"Most of the world's poor no longer live in low-income countries. An estimated 960 million poor people - a new bottom billion - live in middle-income countries (MICs), a result of the graduation of several populous countries from low-income status."

That's a paradigm-tilting, if not altogether shifting, comment from Andy Summer, visiting fellow at the Center for Global Development. It's the introduction to his report, The New Bottom Billion: What If Most of the World's Poor Live in Middle-Income Countries?, which is fascinating reading for anyone concerned with poverty reduction regardless of your discipline.

Summer details an exciting phenomenon that since 2000, more than 700 million poor people have transitioned to MICs, and not merely thanks to the income elevation of India and China. "Even without them the proportion of the world's poor in MICs has tripled, not only from a range of other countries like Nigeria, Pakistan, Indonesia, but also from some surprising countries such as Sudan, Angola, and Cameroon."

While this is welcome news to be sure, Summer cautions that this "new geography of global poverty" compels donors (and I would add capital investors, entrepreneurs and other development enterprises) to re-evaluate how they think about poverty alleviation to "benefit poor people, not just poor countries."

Read the full report here.

A Vote for Sustainable Housing

Ashoka Changemakers has announced the finalists for its Sustainable Urban Housing Competition and now it's your turn to influence the final outcome. The competition will recognize the most innovative solutions to urban housing challenges that bring in communities, institutions and entrepreneurs. The top-three vote recipients each will earn $10,000 USD in prize money. The voting booth will be open through April 6, 2011, go here to cast your ballot.

The competition is in anticipation of the 2012 Summit of the Americas, and in support of U.S. President Barack Obama's Energy and Climate Partnership for the Americas (ECPA), funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.

The Tech Awards: Technology Benefiting Humanity

The Center for Science, Technology and Society at Santa Clara University also is hoping to honor innovators. The organization is on the lookout for those creatively applying technology to benefit humanity in the areas of environment, economic development, education, equality and health. Fifteen laureates in five categories will be honored at a gala event in October 2011 in Silicon Valley, California, and five laureates will each be awarded a cash prize of $50,000 USD. The deadline for nominations is March 31, 2011. To nominate someone you know (including yourself) click here.

Skoll Award Winners

I was remiss in last week's roundup for not recognizing the winners of the Skoll Foundation's 2011 Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship. The names and the companies/organizations will be familiar to many in the sector: Rebecca Onie, of Health Leads; Ned Breslin, of Water For People; Ellen Moir, of New Teacher Center; and Madhav Chavan, of Pratham. A tip of our hat to their tireless efforts in education, health and water enterprises, which you should take a moment to read about here.

The newest generation of the Sebastiani winemaking family is guiding the business into an expanded product line that includes pasta sauces. By Jim Harris

One of California's longest-established winemaking families is continuing to evolve its business into new ventures while preserving the dynasty's traditions. Don Sebastiani & Sons and The Other Guys are the latest chapters in a more than century-old family history. Both companies operate as separate entities under the Don Sebastiani Family of Companies owned by Don Sebastiani Sr., his two sons and daughter.“We're all quite pleased that our family's one hundred-plus year heritage of wine, spirits, and food is now being carried forward by the fourth generation of Sebastianis,” Don Sebastiani Sr. says.Don Sebastiani & Sons is operated by Don Sebastiani Jr., while The Other Guys is operated by August Sebastiani. Mia Sebastiani is the managing director of Mia's Kitchen, a division of The Other Guys.

One Family

Don Sebastiani & Sons, established in 2001 as an offshoot of another family business, acts as a negociant, buying and blending bulk and premium wines in addition to owning and operating its own winemaking facility.The Other Guys launched in 2004 as a direct-to-trade wholesale company carrying and selling brands bottled by Don Sebastiani & Sons. Today, the company is completely independent from Don Sebastiani & Sons, offering only The Other Guys-branded products.

The Other Guys' brands are distributed through a number of trade channels. A few of the brands – Pennywise, Hey Mambo and Plungerhead – are distributed to big-box and major grocery stores and wine shops, while others can be found in club stores such as Costco. One brand, Leese-Fitch, is distributed primarily to restaurants, August Sebastiani says.All of The Other Guys' brands are affordably priced, a strategy that allows it to continue to thrive during a difficult economy. “The evolution of The Other Guys has been in large part a response to the economy,” Sebastiani says. “Instead of people bringing home one $20 Tuesday night bottle of wine, they're bringing home a $10 bottle; instead of a $200 Saturday night wine, they're bringing home a $25 bottle.”

The Other Guys sold 112,000 cases of wine in 2009, up from 67,000 cases in 2008, a statistic Sebastiani says he is particularly proud of given the national economy.Sales grew even more in 2010, with a reported 170,000 cases shipped. The company project further growth in 2011, with a projected 250,000 cases expected to ship, the company says.“The Other Guys provides value to consumers in the form of unique lifestyle brands that enhance the food and beverage experience,” Sebastiani adds. “We do our best across all our products – whether rum, merlot, or olive oil – to over-deliver the product a consumer expects at any given price point.”

In addition to several labels of wine, The Other Guys is expanding Mia's Kitchen, its food division that offers sauce and oil recipes developed by Mia Sebastiani. A spirits division will launch next year. “The Other Guys has evolved into what is today a pretty diverse entity,” August Sebastiani says.Mia's Kitchen products include an extra virgin olive oil, a balsamic reduction sauce, and cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay wine reduction sauces. The extra virgin olive oil uses high quality California-grown >

> olives and is an ideal pairing with Mia's Kitchen balsamic reduction sauces.

The wine reduction sauces feature a sweet, tangy flavor that infuse foods with the aromas and taste of chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon. The sauces can be paired with meats, or used in salad dressings, among other uses, the company says. The oil and sauces have been available in Northern California markets for three years. Future plans for the brand include the launch of new spaghetti and pasta sauces in 2011 that Sebastiani hopes to take nationwide. “We want to lead with the pasta sauces and have those be our volume brand,” Sebastiani adds.

The spirits division, named 35 Maple Street after The Other Guys' Sonoma headquarters, will launch in February 2011 with a Canadian rye whiskey and Dominican rum; Sebastiani plans to market a Kentucky bourbon and a domestically produced gin later in the year.

Top Quality

Don Sebastiani & Sons and The Other Guys source their grapes from many of the world's best growing regions, including the Alexander Valley, the Russian River Valley the Dry Creek Valley and the famed Napa Valley. The companies' California appellations are drawn from growing regions such as Monterey, Paso Robles, Clarksburg and Lodi, the company says. In addition to its California wines, Don Sebastiani & Sons also produce wines sourced from Chile's Casablanca Valley and Tasmania.

“Each wine's individual profile evolves with changes in established vineyard relationships, available fruit and flavor trends in the industry,” the company says. “Our winemaking approach at Don Sebastiani & Sons is to consistently create noteworthy wines in a style which is recognizably our own.”Sebastiani says close attention is paid to the quality of grapes used in its wines. “We keep our nose to the grindstone and taste through our blends, and know which growers provide us with quality fruit,” he adds. “We make sure each year that the wine is up to the quality we and our consumers have come to expect from our vintages.“Quality is king; you can have the best salesman and the most attractive package known to man, but if the wine's no good, you won't sell one bottle.”

Family Commitment

August Sebastiani grew up in Sonoma and studied marketing and political science at Santa Clara University. In 2000, while he was in college, his father stepped down from running the family's long-established winery Sebastiani Vineyards after 16 years. In 2001, Don Sebastiani Sr. founded Don Sebastiani & Sons using capital from the sales of several of the previous company's assets. August joined his father's new company in marketing and brand management before launching The Other Guys. While August, Mia and Donny own a portion of Don Sebastiani & Sons, The Other Guys gives August and Mia a business venture of their own, Sebastiani says.

Outside of the family business, Sebastiani is active in the community as a supporter of the Sonoma Valley Boys and Girls Club and the annual Sonoma Jazz Festival. Sebastiani also recently served on the Sonoma City Council.

Hall of Fame

The Sebastiani family recently received a high honor with the induction of August Sebastiani's grandfather and namesake into the Culinary Institute of America's Vintners Hall of Fame. Sebastiani was honored as a “Pioneer” in the Hall for his contributions to the California Wine Industry, the Culinary Institute says.The "Pioneer" category recognizes those who made significant contributions to the California wine industry and passed away more than 10 years ago, the institute adds.

The Vintners Hall of Fame is located on the Culinary Institute of America's California campus. Each inductee is honored with a bronze sculpture displayed on historic 2,200-gallon wine barrels. “The Vintners Hall of Fame celebrates the men and women whose collective vision, determination, and hard work have been responsible for the growth and worldwide prestige of the California wine industry,” the institute says.

Other 2011 Vintners Hall of Fame inductees include Joel Peterson, found­er of Ravenswood Winery and Bob Singleton, owner of Sutter Home Winery. Past inductees include Ernest and Julio Gallo, Frederick and Jacob Beringer,

Like any other Catholic priest the one at St. Brigid of Kildare in Calgary opens Sunday mass with the sign of the cross.

During the mass scriptures are read, prayers are said, psalms are sung and the Eucharist is blessed.

But what differs at this mass is who is saying it.

The priest, Monica Kilburn-Smith, is a woman.

She considers herself an ordained Catholic priest, ordained through the same apostolic succession that ordains men as Catholic priests.

The church disagrees.

Because of her gender, Kilburn-Smith and the fifty or so Catholics who gathered to celebrate mass with her face excommunication.

The reason: Jesus never chose a woman to be his apostle.

"It's been our consistent teaching and consistent Christian teaching for more than 2,000 years," explains Father Stefano Penna, Dean of Theology at Newman Theological College.

And so, the church argues, for a woman to become a priest is for her to pretend to be something she is not, an act so severe in the church's eyes it is considered a crime against the faith.

In July the Vatican gave a name to this crime: delictum gravius, meaning grave crime, the same label it has given to pedophilia.

The church has since said it didn't mean to compare the two acts per se.

"But we are saying that they are still in their way serious breaks against the community," Penna clarifies.

The fact that the Catholic Church was so active in ending apartheid in South Africa and has stood up against so many other human rights violations many Catholics assumed the church would have done the same when it came to championing women's rights within the church.

“I would love it if they (the church) would do that for women too and show the way," says Kilburn-Smith.

But in that absence, The Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP), a group founded nine years ago in Europe, says it is showing the way.

"We are no longer waiting for permission from the Vatican," says Patricia Fresen, a Womanpriest bishop.

RCWP has since ordained more than 100 women in North America and abroad and is gaining momentum.

"We've taken a political stand within the framework of the church" and won't be deterred in our mission to restore equality within the Catholic Church by creating a different model of priesthood, one that is inclusive of everyone, explains Michele Birch-Conery, a Womanpriest in Victoria, B.C.

By everyone Birch-Conery means women, men, those who are divorced, those who are gay or lesbian or transgender.

Birch-Conery was the first woman ordained in Canada. She was made a deacon in 2004 on the Danube, the same location where two years earlier the first seven women were ordained by a renegade bishop.

The following year, two of those seven women were made bishops, by several male bishops whose identities they protect, in order for them to ordain other women through apostolic succession--the priestly line that the church traces back to Jesus' Apostles and legitimizes each ordination.

Unlike the traditional priestly model, Womenpriests can marry.

Many in fact are married, which is a major departure from doctrine which requires Catholic priests to be celibate.

Many Womenpriests also hold day jobs to pay the bills and see their role within the church community as one among the people rather than in a hierarchy on top of them.

Within the mass itself much of the language is changed to be less male dominated and more inclusive of “all (people) who are made in God's image.”

The RCWP movement -- while seemingly defiant and radical even for the times -- claims it is not new. RCWP argues it is actually a return to the church's origins and several historians agree.

According to Jesuit historian and professor of Theology at Santa Clara University, Gary Macy, the Catholic Church ordained women for nearly 11 centuries before misogyny and politics re-wrote doctrine.

Despite when and where this movement may have started, its future is dependent on its followers.

Calgary's St. Brigid's of Kildare has one of the largest faith communities of all the RCWP communities within Canada. Anywhere from twenty to fifty of these followers gather once a month in a church they rent from another Christian denomination.

Drawn by the promise of reform these Catholics, women and men young and old, all face the threat of excommunication for celebrating mass with a Womanpriest, according to the church.

"I don't care what they do or say it's not important to me. What's important is our community and what's in our hearts," explains Jenny Miller who has been attending St. Brigid for several years.

“The hierarchy says one thing, but the hierarchy is only one part of the church, one small part. We are the church, the people of the church are the church and that's Catholic teaching not just us saying that,” adds Kilburn-Smith.

In May a New York Times-CBS poll showed 59% of Catholics in the U.S. are in favor of ordaining women.

An opinion echoed by Kathleen Gleeson who regularly attends mass at St. Brigid.

"My family physician is a woman, the head of Save Children in Toronto is a woman, we have women who head engineering, all kinds of things, it's time the church stop treating women as second class citizens.”

Despite the times, the threat of being associated with this movement is still too great for some.

On the day we visited St. Brigid the presence of our camera kept a handful of people with jobs connected to the Catholic Church away.

"The fear is losing their jobs that would be worst scenario and nobody can say for sure, but it has happened other places," says Kilburn-Smith.

The RCWP and other organizations like it have a long way to go if they can ever convince the church to change doctrine, but it the movement is gaining momentum and followers say it is not going away anytime soon.

"Excommunication has happened to many people throughout the centuries who were reformers. Saint Francis was excommunicated and stripped naked before the people," points out Birch-Conery.

If nothing else, RCWP takes comfort knowing that they're in good company and are now at least being heard.

Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose campaigns to keep Caltrain station open | View Clip03/25/2011San Jose Mercury News - Online

The fact that the College Park Caltrain Station is immortalized in Jack London's 1903 novel Call of the Wild may not be enough to keep it off the chopping block.

The station where Buck the dog begins his long journey to Alaska is on Caltrain's list of possible closures in the wake of its massive budget shortfall.

College Park was slated for possible closure as a cost-cutting measure in 2005, but heavy lobbying from the Bellarmine College Preparatory community and residents of the nearby College Park neighborhood saved it.

Now the neighborhood and the school are rallying again, urging people to send e-mails, write letters or call in support of keeping the station open.

The Rev. Paul Sheridan, president of Bellarmine, in a letter to the Caltrain board of directors, pointed out that some 240 students, faculty and staff at the school depend on Caltrain to get to and from school.

Sheridan also addressed the need of continuing service south of Diridon Station, where about 45 percent of the school's Caltrain riders live, in the Gilroy and Morgan Hill communities.

The College Park Neighborhood Association has also urged members to contact the board as well to protest the possible closure of the station.

The sample letter distributed to its membership said the closure would "put more cars on the road, resulting in increased traffic congestion, environmental impacts and safety concerns in our historic neighborhood."

can be sent via e-mail to changes@caltrain.com, mailed to Board of Directors, P.O. Box 3006, San Carlos, 94070-1306 or called in to 800.660.4287.

The board is expected to vote on the issue at its April 7 meeting.

The South Bay representatives on the governing Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board are Santa Clara County Supervisors Ken Yeager and Liz Kniss, along with San Jose City Councilman Ash Kalra.

Located at 780 Stockton Ave., the station and the neighborhood take their name from the University of the Pacific, which was located there from 1871 to 1925, when rail lines extending north from San Jose were put in.

In 1925, the university moved to Stockton, and the San Jose campus was taken over by Santa Clara University for its Santa Clara Prep school. The following year the high school changed its name to Bellarmine College Preparatory.

Frank Guerra, the grandfather of a woman who died in the crash of Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, spoke to students at Starmount Middle School on Thursday, March 24, 2011. (more)

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BOONVILLE --

The rolling hills and sweeping fields surrounding Starmount Middle School in northern Yadkin County reminded Frank Guerra of the Shanksville area of southwestern Pennsylvania.

It was in a field in Shanksville where his college-aged granddaughter Deora Bodley died on Sept. 11, 2001.

Bodley was one of 33 passengers and seven crew members on United Flight 93 when it crashed during the terrorist attacks.

Guerra, of Southern Pines, spoke to more than 300 students and others gathered Thursday at the school for a commemoration of Flight 93.

He talked about how the passengers fought back after discovering that other hijacked planes had been used to target New York City and Washington.

They weren't able to wrest control of the plane but were able to stop the terrorists from hitting their target that day.

"They fought for their freedom, and that is why today we call them the first heroes of the war on terror," Guerra said.

Deora, 20, had been visiting friends in New Jersey and was on her way back to Santa Clara University in California — where she was starting her junior year — when the plane was hijacked by terrorists. She was the youngest person aboard Flight 93.

Guerra spoke as part of 93 Cents for Flight 93, a nonprofit organization raising money for a memorial and a new national park at the crash site. He is scheduled to join other family members of the victims on the 10th anniversary of the crash this September to cut the ribbon for the first phase of the project.

Guerra was invited to speak at Starmount Middle by Kevin Puckett, a seventh-grade science teacher there, whose father knows Guerra. After learning that Guerra recently spoke to a group of students in Moore County in eastern North Carolina as part of the 93 Cents for Flight 93 effort, Puckett thought a similar talk would benefit the students here.

Guerra happily accepted the invitation. He said he enjoys a chance to deliver a message about 9/11 to young people, many of whom can't remember the event. He compared it to the importance of commemorating the attack on Pearl Harbor that led the United States to enter World War II.

"We don't want them to forget September 11," Guerra said. "It's just like how we remember what happened December 7, 1941."

Thursday's tribute included a tractor-trailer with the names of the victims emblazoned on the side that pulled into the school's parking lot under a giant American flag strung between two fire department ladder trucks.

Principal Rick Swaim said the message for the students was to not be afraid to act, just as the passengers on Flight 93 acted together to try to stop the terrorists.

"We want our kids to be active," he said. "We want our kids to be involved."

Kaitlin Howell, 13, said the event helped her understand the importance of Sept. 11 in history.

"I loved it," the seventh-grader said. "I learned that anyone can be a hero in the right situation."

Faith and The Cosmos | View Clip03/25/2011America: The National Catholic Weekly

Can Catholic universities foster dialogue between religion and science?

W hen I started teaching in 1996, I was hired by Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., to teach a course on science and religion. With degrees in both areas, I felt well prepared; but I soon learned that the amount of literature on the relationship between these two topics had swelled enormously. The growth rate of scientific progress in our time is astounding. Rapid advances in technology make it difficult to keep abreast of progress in such areas as genetics, robotics, molecular biology and neuroscience. Discoveries in cosmology, astronomy and physics continue to disclose a universe that is ancient, dynamic, interconnected and expanding.

As technology advances at an exponential rate, it drives other areas of modern life to accelerate exponentially as well. The rapidity of technological change, writes the philosopher Nick Bostrom, suggests that continued innovation will have an even larger impact on humanity in future decades. With these changes come new moral and religious questions, and the Catholic Church needs theologians willing to address them. Unfortunately, few Catholic universities have devoted resources to educating theologians willing to engage with the scientific world. This is a loss for both academic disciplines.

If the secular, scientific culture behaves like a rabbit, leaping across vast areas of discovery and invention, the Catholic Church too often behaves like a turtle, crawling up from behind, hesitant to accept new scientific discoveries. The slow pace of the church's embrace of science is not because of a hesitant pope. Benedict XVI has worked to connect the two disciplines, establishing within the Vatican, under the Pontifical Council of Culture, a department dedicated to dialogue between science and theology. The pope has issued various statements on the sciences and their impact on humanity and the earth and has expressed to Catholic youth his support of new computer technologies, when used correctly, to connect with others. Overall, though, many theologians are reluctant to engage developments in science. It does not help that within the universities theology has been isolated from the sciences.

The mechanization and specialization of higher education has rendered the university a multiversity. Instead of educating students to know the universe and stars “turning together as one,” academic disciplines, including theology and philosophy, have become highly specialized, competitive fields. If the modern church is reluctant to embrace insights from modern science as integral to revelation, part of the hesitancy may be due to the place theology holds within the academy.

In his book The Soul of America, the historian George Marsden recounts how and when higher education in general became hostile to religion. By the 1920s many universities, despite their religious roots, had grown increasingly secular, sidelining or even scorning religion. The separation of science from such humanistic fields as religion, history and literature created a model of university life that did not allow any positive role for religious people, institutions or ideas on campus. One had to leave religion at the door or privatize it. As a result, students did not learn how to connect science with areas of meaning and value. Elaine Eckland, a sociologist at Rice University and the author of Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think, suggests that by separating religion from the rest of university education, the American university lost its soul.

An Uneasy Relationship

The church has been a patron of the sciences throughout the ages, although not consistently. Major events like the Galileo affair and the rise of Protestantism “caused a psychic trauma for the church,” write Peter Hess and Paul Allen in their excellent book, Catholicism and Science. Although the church did not shut the door to scientific research, events like these also stifled openness to scientific innovations.

Theology, however, entered the 20th century as a closed set of neo-Thomistic discourses with questions and rules set by neo-scholastic philosophy with few, if any, other intellectual or cultural sources, says Paul Crowley, S.J., the chair of religious studies at Santa Clara University, that did not cohere with existing papal efforts to support scientific research. Still, in the 1930s the Vatican had moved its astronomical observatory out of the city of Rome to Castel Gandolfo and outfitted it with modern equipment and in 1979 established the Pontifical Academy of Sciences to demonstrate the church's commitment to scientific research. “The Pontifical Academy,” declared Pope John Paul II, “is a visible sign, raised among the people of the world, of a profound harmony that can exist between the truths of science and the truths of faith.”

Some theologians have worked to connect these truths. Karl Rahner, S.J., did not shy away from exploring connections between matter and the soul or from considering the theological implications of life on other planets. Another Jesuit priest, Bernard Lonergan, drew on the scientific method to develop a method of theology. Today, some Catholic theologians (like John F. Haught) engage the sciences to illuminate areas of systematic theology like divine action; others (like Denis Edwards) are trying to deepen theological insight on questions in ecology, such as climate change. But on the whole, Catholic theology remains a product of Augustinian, Thomistic and Aristotelian ideas. Few Catholic theologians are grappling with the sciences on their own terms as a means of theological reflection.

In the late 20th century, as theology entered into dialogue with the cultural pluralities of gender, race, history and philosophy, it nonetheless settled into the university system as an academic silo, just as the sciences sequestered themselves into specialized disciplines. Religion and science grew more estranged.

Theology students are trained in departments independent of a broader integration with the sciences in the university. As a result, according to William Stoeger, S.J., of the Vatican observatory, “there are few theologians or theologically interested philosophers at universities where the most significant scientific work is done.” Even the annual meeting of the Catholic Theological Society of America, where attention is given to major currents in theology, does not show much engagement with the sciences. Of its 16 topical areas of discussion, only one is devoted to theology and the natural sciences.

In his book Religion and Science, Ian Barbour laid out four types of relationships between science and religion: conflict, independence, dialogue and integration. While scientists tend to see the relationship between the two disciplines as one of either conflict or independence, theologians, when they are interested, tend toward dialogue and integration. Undoubtedly, science and religion are independent disciplines, each with its own language, methods and tools of analysis, but the academic structure has kept them intellectually as well as spatially apart.

Reforming this structure to promote dialogue is key, since scientific language is technical and objective, and the descriptions of scientific findings do not readily invite theology-minded students into discussion without a teacher. Both disciplines present unique challenges, but it is not difficult to see why a theologian may more readily delve into the familiar theses of St. Thomas Aquinas over the unfamiliar formulas of Albert Einstein, or why the reverse might be true for scientists. Scientists who are interested in religion or express religious belief often have little opportunity in the academy to discuss religion as it relates to their work. Some universities, like Santa Clara, are making a concerted effort to engage scientists and theologians in discussion on meaning and value, but such initiatives are rare.

The Role of the Catholic University

The term “Catholic sacramental imagination” has long been used for the typically Catholic view that the material world can bring people into intimate relationship with God. The term captures the heart of the Catholic intellectual tradition, which is rooted in the richness of the material cosmos as a fit dwelling for the divine. While the church recognizes the importance of science for the development of faith, it also recognizes the limits of science as the ultimate horizon of meaning. The value of science, Pope John Paul II wrote, is that it can “purify religion from error and superstition,” just as “religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes.”

Although the church continues to bridge science and religion, the significance of this dialogue for the life of faith cannot be left to the institutional church alone. Theologians are needed to reflect on the big questions of meaning and purpose in light of evolution, ecology and technology, as well as to comment on the moral questions raised, especially by the biomedical sciences. Science and religion make their best contributions when each can speak to the other of the truth of reality. As Paul Crowley, S.J., observes, “If theology cannot engage a culture that has been framed by the paradigms of science, then theology itself risks self-marginalization.” It has “no voice at the table concerning the significant issues facing humanity today” and becomes an exercise in history and hermeneutics. On the other hand, unbridled science can become “scientism,” making broad philosophical claims without the development of philosophical foundations.

Catholic universities must become leaders in integrating science and religion. John Haughey, S.J., writes that the Catholic intellectual tradition is one of making wholes. Yet few Catholic universities offer courses or programs in science and religion, and those that do attract relatively few students, not all of whom are adequately prepared for such discussions.

Several years ago, a colleague and I initiated a certificate program in religion and science at Washington Theological Union, a graduate school of theology and ministry in Washington, D.C., but the program was eventually discontinued for lack of student interest. At the Gregorian University in Rome, Gennaro Auletta and colleagues have developed a program called Science and the Ontological Quest, which is responsible for coordinating science and religion courses in six Roman pontifical universities. Although only a small number of seminarians are taking such courses, the engagement of seminarians in the dialogue between science and religion may be one of the most crucial pastoral needs of our time.

Catholic universities need an invigoration of the Catholic imagination, for which dialogue between science and religion is a rich source. Theology cannot continue to develop apart from 21st-century cosmology and ecology, nor can science substitute for religion. The dialogue between science and religion has been developing in the last few decades, but Catholic universities have been slow to support this mutual enrichment. Developing collaborative structures of interaction between science and religion on the university level can benefit students and faculty alike, not only academically but also spiritually. While the current structure of academic specialization makes dialogue difficult as an integral part of university life and thought, universities must support existing centers of dialogue, like the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. Centers like these serve as bridge-builders and integrators, bringing together faculty, students and professionals across the disciplines.

To restore soul to the university may require a re-imagining of education, including a search for new ways to develop dialogue between science and religion. Development of this relationship can enrich personal life, community life and the life of the planet. As John Paul II wrote, “The things of the earth and the concerns of faith derive from the same God,” for it is one and the same Love “which moves the sun and the other stars.” Both the light of faith and the insights of science can help humanity evolve toward a more sustainable future.

Ilia Delio, O.S.F., is a senior fellow at Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University, where she concentrates on the area of science and religion.

Trust, fights, and child care. When I'm advising start-up teams nowadays, I ask a lot of questions around those three areas. Which makes it sounds more like a marriage counselor's office, rather than a boardroom, right?

Quite often, the teams I'm talking with think culture is some woo-woo stuff that doesn't make any difference in the end, or even if they think it does matter, they have an excruciatingly hard time describing what theirs is.

Which begs the question: does culture matter?

Culture's all that invisible stuff that glues organizations together, as David Caldwell, my management professor at Santa Clara University, taught me many years ago. It includes things like norms of purpose, values, approach — the stuff that's hard to codify, hard to evaluate, and certainly hard to measure and therefore manage. Many other experts, such as Senge and Kotter have certainly added to that understanding with complex and nuanced constructs, but Caldwell's invisible glue comment holds a truth.

This "invisibility" causes many managers to treat culture as a soft topic, but it's the stuff that determines how we get things done. For example:

Do We Trust Each Other? A team I was recently working with reminded me of 6-year-olds playing soccer, where every team member simply surrounds the issue much like a team of kids surrounds the ball. They then travel en masse, afraid to move away from the proverbial "ball." In this culture, no one owns a position on the field. This "we're all in it together" cultural norm is certainly egalitarian, but it doesn't support specialization, scale, or accountability. I worry that as this team grows, and when they're not all in the same room, they will fail. When they are huddling, what they are signaling is that they don't know how to trust one another to do their unique part. They — like many teams — simply don't know how to "let go" to and with others, thus risking their ability to scale results.

Disagreements Mean What? We all know that we want the best ideas to triumph for the best innovations to take place, but sometimes we act as if that only applies when the idea is our idea. Two members of a team were recently disagreeing vehemently on something. Both had facts that backed up their point of view. Both were fighting for the benefit of the company. Each believed they were "in the right" and wanted the CEO to simply pick the winner, making the losing party wrong and mostly likely, gone. How we handle disagreements and dissent are also part of culture. When teams don't know how to handle disagreement, molehill issues can become do-or-die mountains, or, conversely, passive-aggressiveness insinuates itself as a mechanism to avoid overt disagreements at all costs.

Who Cares About the Baby? A team that is part of a 50,000+ organization recently described an issue where one team does their best right up to a handoff milestone, then relinquishes any part of the project's ultimate success. They described their discomfort with this using a baby analogy. "Will you take care of my [baby] the same way I would, knowing our shared goal is to [get this kid to a good college]?" When the "baby" or in this case, business performance isn't co-owned by everyone, things can easily fall through the cracks. And truth be told, that's where most business problems happen in our high velocity world; between the cracks of divisions or silos or the "white space" no one owns.

How we get things done drives performance. These issues of trust, conflict resolution, and co-ownership are foundational for how a team gets work done. Culture is the set of habits that allows a group of people to cooperate by assumption rather than by negotiation. Based on that definition, culture is not what we say, but what we do without asking. A healthy culture allows us to produce something with each other, not in spite of each other. That is how a group of people generates something much bigger than the sum of the individuals involved. If we only get 2+5+10 = 17, we haven't gotten any benefit of leverage. What we are looking for is 2*5*10 = 100, delivering an explosive return on effort. Culture is the domain that enables or obstructs a velocity of function. By addressing where an organization is limiting its velocity, you can accelerate the engine that fuels innovation and growth, and, ultimately, financial numbers.

Stephen Sadove, chairman and chief executive of Saks, agrees that culture drives numbers: "Culture drives innovation and whatever else you are trying to accomplish within a company — innovation, execution, whatever it's going to be. And that then drives results," he said in a New York Times interview. "When I talk to Wall Street, people really want to know your results, what are your strategies, what are the issues, what it is that you're doing to drive your business. Never do you get people asking about the culture, about leadership, about the people in the organization. Yet it's the reverse, because it's the people, the leadership, and the ideas that are ultimately driving the numbers and the results."

Because we can see the outward manifestations of work performance like products shipped, revenues booked, and earnings-per-share, we can discuss them in analysts calls and at management meetings. We can barely see and surely can't measure the cultural aspect of what makes great products, revenues or earnings per share. But that doesn't mean it can't be decoded.

After working on strategy for 20 years, I can say this: culture will trump strategy, every time. The best strategic idea means nothing in isolation. If the strategy conflicts with how a group of people already believe, behave or make decisions it will fail. Conversely, a culturally robust team can turn a so-so strategy into a winner. The "how" matters in how we get performance. Yes, it does.

This post originally appeared at the Harvard Business Review.

Nilofer Merchant is a corporate advisor and speaker on innovation methods. Her book, The New How, discussing collaborative ways to have your whole company strategize, was published in 2010. Follow her on Twitter @nilofer.

(03-25) 18:22 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A man whose conviction in a 1990 drug-related killing in San Francisco was set aside after he had served 21 years behind bars was ordered freed Friday after prosecutors learned that evidence in the case had been destroyed.

The release of Maurice Caldwell, 43, was set in motion in December when Superior Court Judge Charles Haines overturned Caldwell's conviction in the shooting death of a man named Judy Acosta. Prosecutors said Acosta was shot over a drug deal gone bad at San Francisco's Alemany public housing project.

Caldwell was serving a sentence of 27 years to life at Folsom State Prison and appeared to have exhausted his legal appeals, until the Northern California Innocence Project, a group of legal advocates based at Santa Clara University, argued that he had been represented by ineffective counsel at his trial.

Haines agreed and ordered a new trial.

Caldwell's conviction had hinged on the testimony of a single witness, Mary Cobb, who identified him as one of two gunmen who killed Acosta.

The innocence project noted that Cobb had originally told police that she didn't know who the killer was. Cobb died of cancer in 1998, and prosecutors hoped they could present her testimony in transcript form at a new trial.

Recently, however, they learned that the exhibits from Caldwell's 1993 trial - including 10 crime scene photos and diagrams that prosecutors showed Cobb during her testimony - had been destroyed around 1995.

Prosecutors sought to use other evidence in lieu of those exhibits, but Haines ruled that Cobb's notes and marks on the now-destroyed exhibits were needed to assure Caldwell a fair trial.

"Because of the court's ruling, the people have no further evidence," prosecutor Eric Fleming told the judge Friday.

As Acosta's family watched, Haines explained that he felt "compelled" to make his ruling. He acknowledged that the jury at Caldwell's trial had believed Cobb, who testified that Caldwell had threatened her if she testified.

"The jury heard Mr. Caldwell's case; the jury believed she told the truth beyond a reasonable doubt," the judge said, adding that he believed she was a "decent, moral person."

However, Haines said of Caldwell, "this court has no reason to hold him."

Caldwell's lawyer, Steve Olmo, declined to comment.

In a statement issued through the innocence project, Caldwell said, "All the things I dreamed about when I was young, I can now bring to life. I can't find a way to say what this means to me and what (the innocence project) means to me. I'm just sorry my mother isn't here to see this day finally come."

Raelyn Acosta, the victim's cousin, said the family was still convinced Caldwell was guilty.

"There is a person missing," she said of Judy Acosta. "He would still be here but for this man - 21 years is not enough."

The Arizona men's tennis team opens play in the Pacific 10 Conference today against the No. 20 Washington Huskies in Seattle today.

During spring break, No. 53 Arizona (8-7) lost to Indiana and Oklahoma by scores of 5-2 and 4-2. Freshman Giacomo Miccini stood out in the loss to Indiana, as he won his singles match 6-2, 6-1. Fellow freshman Mario Urquidi has had an impressive stretch recently, winning three of his past four singles matches, dating back to March 4 against Sacramento State.

This match against Washington (13-4) will mark the 25th meeting between the two schools, with the Huskies holding a 14-10 all-time advantage over the Wildcats. The Huskies most recently topped Santa Clara University by a score of 5-1.

Following the match against Washington, the Wildcats will face the Oregon Ducks in Eugene, Ore. The Ducks have a 9-5 overall record going into the weekend. The Wildcats have a tough task before them as the Ducks have an impressive 6-1 record on their home court. This will be the 17th meeting against the Ducks, with Arizona holding a demanding 13-3 advantage.

The No. 31 Wildcat women's team has continued to play well, recently defeating UC Irvine by a score of 5-2, improving its record to an astounding 15-3. Stand-outs from that match include Natasha Marks, Lacey Smyth and Kim Stubbe. Those three, along with Jane Huh, all won their singles matches. Marks and Smyth won their doubles point 8-3, as did Kim Stubbe and Susan McRann 8-5. Marks has won four out of her last five singles matches.

Arizona will try and win their third straight Pac-10 conference game as they face the Washington Huskies in Seattle on Sunday.

Red Bluff attorney Matthew McGlynn has announced that he will run for the position of Tehama County Superior Court Judge in the 2012 primary election.

This announcement follows Judge Richard Scheuler's recent decision that he will retire and not seek another term in office.

"I have received a tremendous amount of encouragement to seek the position of Superior Court judge from the legal community, law enforcement and the community at large," McGlynn said in a press release. "I believe that my experience will make me a highly effective judge and I look forward to the opportunity to serve the citizens of Tehama County.

Tehama County has been fortunate to have an excellent judiciary and I'm confident that I will carry forth with that tradition."

McGlynn has been practicing law for nearly 25 years in Tehama County, representing clients in every type of case that comes before a Superior Court judge. He has served as a court-appointed arbitrator, hearing evidence and making decisions in Tehama County Superior Court cases.

"During the course of my career, I have represented clients in all areas of civil, criminal, family, probate and business law," McGlynn said. "This broad range of experience will allow me to make the transition to Superior Court judge, as I have been dealing with the various areas of law that our Tehama County judges handle each and every day."

McGlynn graduated the Santa Clara University

School of Law, finishing second in his class. In 1986 he joined the law practice of his father, Thomas J. McGlynn. After becoming partner, he and his father formed the firm of McGlynn & McGlynn. The firm has been serving Tehama County for nearly 40 years.

McGlynn is a fourth-generation resident of Tehama County. He attended Sacred Heart School and Bidwell Junior High School. He graduated from Mercy High School in 1979 and attended the University of Santa Clara where he received an undergraduate degree in English in 1983.

Since his return to Red Bluff after law school, McGlynn has been an active member of the community. He was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Red Bluff-Tehama County Chamber of Commerce, where he later served as president.

He has been a member of the Red Bluff Kiwanis club since 1989, serving one term as president and acting as the director of the Kiwanis youth camp for six years.

I just realized that there's less than two weeks of school before spring break, and we still haven't made any plans. I had coffee Monday morning with a local travel agent, Nancy Harmon of Travel By Trellis , who gave me some fun ideas to keep us busy and entertained. The following are all local ideas that you can either orchestrate yourself or you call her for assistance.

Visit some of the pioneer towns in California. Colombia has a lot to offer, including a state historic park with costumed performers and shopkeepers, horse-drawn vehicles, blacksmiths, woodcarvers and other craftsman. We went there a couple years ago and my kids really enjoyed panning for gold, the graveyard, and the horse drawn carriage ride (complete with a staged robbery!) In the same general area, you can visit one of the old mines. Many of these have tours that intrigue the entire family, some with rappelling and zip line opportunities.
The historic St. George Hotel in Volcano is a wonderful place in during spring. While there, you can drive up to Daffodil Hill to view the 300,000 plus daffodils, flowering trees and peacocks. In the same general area, you can see Indian Grinding Rock State Park, Sutter's Gold Mine and the Little Amador Railroad.
Las Vegas often has good bargains and many family oriented activities. On our trip last year, we enjoyed the M&M factory and circus. For the price of a day pass, the kids had endless rides and activities including all the Lasar Tag they could play (approximately $17 - $26 for an all-day pass.) Spring is a great time for Las Vegas because the weather is quite mild compared to the summer. After a few days in Las Vegas, you can add in a road trip to either the Grand Canyon or Bryce Canyon.
Sacramento has many interesting things to do, many of which have educational advantages as well. You can tour the State Capitol, the State Railroad Museum, the Towe Auto Museum, Fairytale Town, and the Sacramento Zoo just to name a few. You can do Sacramento as a day trip or make it even more fun by adding in an overnight stay at a family hotel like the Embassy Suites. My kids think that the Embassy Suite is as close to paradise as they can find.
One adventure we have wanted to try but haven't had a chance to yet is Safari West Wildlife Preserve and African Tent Camp in Santa Rosa. This is advertised as an “African luxury safari in the wine country”, complete with lodging in the midst of the preserve in either safari canvas tents or cottages. This is also close enough to the wine country that you can combine both for a vacation with both child and adult fun.
There are many fascinating places near Half Moon Bay and further down Highway 1. One of these is Costanoa , with lodging, a general store and a restaurant. This location puts you in the midst of hiking and biking activities at Big Basin National Park , Butano National Park , Ano Nuevo , berry picking at various sites, Pigeon Point lighthouse, and other local points of interest. If you are looking for a different type of adventure in the area, there are several family hostels on the coast.
Rent a motor home and roam the coast of California, venturing up to Oregon and Washington along the scenic Pacific Coast Highway.
In addition to the amusement parks in the area that we are familiar with (Great America, Discovery Kingdom, Disneyland, etc.), there's an indoor water park in Newark that many people may not be aware of. The Silliman Family Aquatic Center has a lazy river, a water play structure, two water slides, plus other activities –-- all for the cost of between $5 and $8 per day, depending on age. They have varied hours, so be sure to call them or check the website for hours: http://www.newark.org/departments/recreation-and-community-services/aquatics/
Find out what your children are studying in the next school year (or what they are currently studying), and visit sites to reinforce what they are learning. Examples of this could be visiting some of the California missions, the gold country, Native American sites or the government buildings in Sacramento. These places can be incorporated into other vacations and would add a little diversity to your trip.
Do you have a high schooler? Try to visit one or more of our local colleges or universities to give your child an image of what they should work towards in school. Santa Clara University, Stanford, University of San Francisco, UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz are all great local options to strive for.

It's always a challenge to find something to suit all family members and create a bonding, fun, memorable adventure for everyone, but the memories shared are well worth the effort. Got an idea for fun family outings over spring break? Comment below or email them to sarahy@patch.com .

In August, the Santa Clara online textbook rental upstart acquired CourseRank -- a startup founded by three Stanford University computer science majors that helps college students decide which courses to take.

In December, Chegg bought Cramster, a Pasadena site founded in 2002 that offers online homework help.

This week, Chegg revealed that it has integrated CourseRank and Cramster into its redesigned site -- putting textbook rentals, homework help and course selection advice in the same place.

The course advice is available for 600 schools, including Stanford, Santa Clara University and UC Berkeley. Chegg expects to include nearly 1,000 schools by the end of the year.

Students can use the course advice feature to check students' ratings, grade distributions (at least as reported by site users), class schedules and required textbooks.

Noting that technology is "changing the education landscape," CEO Dan Rosenweig, who joined Chegg in February 2010, described his company in a news release this week as "an advocate for college students." Chegg, which was founded in 2007, plans to add more personalized features this year.

According to TechCrunch, Chegg has received $219 million in funding from investors including Insight Venture Partners, Ace Limited and Silicon Valley venture capital powerhouse Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

A pivot for

Facebook Questions: Palo Alto social networking powerhouse Facebook this week revealed changes to Facebook Questions -- and is beginning to roll out the feature to all its members.

According to a blog post, Facebook has updated Questions to allow friends to agree with suggested answers with one click -- or to add another response. "This makes it easy for many more people to respond to you," product manager Adrian Graham noted. "It also helps us show you the most popular responses."

Josh Constine, lead writer on the Inside Facebook blog, described the redesigned Questions as "more lightweight, viral and a more seamless part of the Facebook experience that will appeal to wide audience, rather than a niche destination."

By contrast, Palo Alto question-and-answer site Quora has a devoted audience drawn to more serious discussions -- on such topics as investing, the technology industry and venture-backed startups such as, well, Facebook.

Home loans: Here in Silicon Valley, the high cost of housing can have a huge effect on our personal finances. Mint -- the personal finance website owned by Mountain View software maker Intuit -- is now helping its users find mortgages.

Mint is emphasizing how homebuyers can reduce their borrowing costs over time -- or whether it makes sense for current homeowners to refinance. "By showing where people can reduce the cost of borrowing -- by shaving a few years or points from the loan -- we're educating them about the home loan process," Aaron Patzer, Mint founder and vice president of Intuit's personal finance group, said in a news release.

Mint is working with Credit Sesame, a Sunnyvale startup, to pull in personalized loan offers. "This is a great testament to the value that Credit Sesame provides to consumers who are looking to make smart credit and loan decisions," Credit Sesame founder and CEO Adrian Nazari noted on his company's blog.

According to TechCrunch, Credit Sesame has received $7.35 million in venture funding since its founding in 2010 from investors including Menlo Ventures and Inventus Capital.

Frank Russell writes the 60-Second Business Break, posted weekdays by 2 p.m. at MercuryNews.com and SiliconValley.com. Contact him at 408-920-5876. Follow him at Twitter.com/mercspike.

Mar. 23, 2011 (Business Wire) — Two alumni who have committed their lives to promoting peace, understanding, and humanitarian aid will speak at Santa Clara University's undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremonies this spring.

Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony

Dr. Khaled Hosseini, best-selling author, physician, and Santa Clara University alumnus, will be the commencement speaker for SCU's undergraduate class of 2011.

“I look forward to speaking to the graduates as they stand on the verge of bringing their ambitions and ideas to a greater world outside of Santa Clara University. It will be my privilege to provoke them to thought one more time before they leave the home of their formal education,” says Hosseini.

Santa Clara University announced that Hosseini will deliver the commencement address on Saturday, June 11 at 8 am at Buck Shaw Stadium. He also will receive an honorary degree of doctorate of Humane Letters for carrying forth the Jesuit mission of social justice. Read more.

Graduate Commencement Ceremony

Sharon M.K. Kugler, a Santa Clara University alumna and the first Catholic woman to hold the position of University Chaplain at Yale University, will address SCU's graduate students at their 2011 commencement ceremony Friday, June 10. The commencement will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the university's Leavey Events Center.

In attendance will be 600 or so students receiving advanced degrees from the School of Engineering, the Leavey School of Business, and the School of Education and Counseling Psychology, and the College of Arts and Sciences.

“We are very happy to have Ms. Kugler speak to our graduate students this year,” said University President Michael Engh, S.J. “She has spent much of her career shaping the spiritual growth of young people, and she embodies the vital contribution of committed laypeople to the advancement of religious education and spiritual development.” Read more.

About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University is a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California's Silicon Valley. Santa Clara offers its more than 8,800 students rigorous undergraduate programs in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master's degrees in a number of professional fields, law degrees, and engineering and theology doctorates. Distinguished by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master's universities, Santa Clara educates leaders of competence, conscience, and compassion grounded in faith-inspired values. Founded in 1851, Santa Clara is California's oldest operating institution of higher education. For more information, see www.scu.edu.

James Welch, concert organist and music faculty member at Santa Clara University in California, will present a recital at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Skinner pipe organ of Morley Hall on the Lake Erie College Campus in Painesville.

Welch has performed worldwide, with recitals throughout Europe, Latin America, Asia and the United States.

He also has released numerous CDs and published on various subjects.

On Monday, Welch will conduct a Q&A Roundtable Discussion, sponsored by the Center for Entrepreneurship at LEC. He will lead a conversation on how to succeed in the music industry, particularly in these economic times. The lecture will take place at noon in the Ernst Board Room on the LEC campus.

There is no charge for admission.

For more information about either of these events, call 440-375-7129 or 440-375-7253.

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James Welch, concert organist and music faculty member at Santa Clara University in California, will present a recital at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Skinner pipe organ of Morley Hall on the Lake Erie College Campus in Painesville.

Welch has performed worldwide, with recitals throughout Europe, Latin America, Asia and the United States.

He also has released numerous CDs and published on various subjects.

On Monday, Welch will conduct a Q&A Roundtable Discussion, sponsored by the Center for Entrepreneurship at LEC. He will lead a conversation on how to succeed in the music industry, particularly in these economic times. The lecture will take place at noon in the Ernst Board Room on the LEC campus.

There is no charge for admission.

For more information about either of these events, call 440-375-7129 or 440-375-7253.

Reader Comments »

View reader comments (0) » Comment on this story »

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A West Coast industry veteran has been selected to lead convention and tourism efforts in the state's largest city. The Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association has named Leonard Hoops president and chief executive officer. He most recently served as executive vice president and chief customer officer for the San Francisco Travel Association. Hoops has helped his organization develop new travel-trade business in emerging markets including South Korea and China, and played an integral role in the renovation and future expansion of San Francisco's Moscone convention center. He will replace Don Welsh, who was recruited to lead the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau in January. Hoops will begin his new position May 31.

INDIANAPOLISAfter a strategic three-month nationwide search, the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association (ICVA) announces Leonard Hoops as its new president & CEO. Hoops most recently served as executive vice president & chief customer officer for the San Francisco Travel Association, the citys official convention and tourism organization.

With $3 billion in new tourism-related developments now online, Indianapolis has arrived as a first-tier destination, truly competing in the national arena. Leonards proven sales results, extensive marketing expertise, and strong convention industry knowledge make him the ideal person to take Indianapolis to the next level and capitalize on the citys new investments, said Michael Browning, chairman of the board of the ICVA.

A seasoned executive with 25 years of corporate and destination marketing experience, Hoops steps into the ICVAs president & CEO role after Don Welsh was recruited to lead the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau in January.

Indianapolis has developed an exceptionally attractive convention and meeting package to go with its international reputation as a sports fans dream city, said Hoops. Ive long admired the vision of the regions civic and tourism leaders and Im excited to lead the ICVAs efforts to bring more conventions and visitors to Indy.

Hoops has directed the efforts of the San Francisco Travel Associations convention sales, convention services, and tourism development divisions since 2006, managing as many as 40 staff, a network of 13 international tourism development offices, and a budget of nearly $12 million. He has led his convention team to record-breaking sales results, negotiated several major strategic partnerships, developed new travel-trade business in emerging markets such as South Korea and China, and played an integral role in the renovation and future expansion of San Franciscos Moscone convention center.

Prior to his position at the San Francisco Travel Association, Hoops served as senior vice president & chief marketing officer for the Sacramento (Calif.) Convention & Visitors Bureau, where he reinvented the organizations strategic plan, launched a new brand strategy, significantly improved the convention business pipeline, and increased Bureau-driven leisure room nights by 350 percent. His experience also includes tenure as senior vice president of marketing for the San Jose (Calif.) Convention & Visitors Bureau and various corporate communications roles for a $1 billion division of FMC Corp.

Hoops has been named one of the 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales & Marketing by Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International. He holds a bachelors degree in journalism from San Jose State University and a masters in business administration from Santa Clara University.

Hoops will begin his new post May 31, overseeing the ICVAs annual budget of $13 million and staff of 59 professionals. The ICVA is charged with filling the expanded Indiana Convention Center and continuing tourism growth for Indianapolis.

The mission of the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association is to increase Indianapolis growth by strategically selling the destination to conventions, meetings, events, and leisure travelers. According to recent study by Vantage Strategy, 18 million people visit Indianapolis annually, generating $3.4 billion in economic impact, and supporting 69,000 full-time employment positions. For more information, www.VisitIndy.com.

Red Bluff attorney Matthew McGlynn has announced that he will run for the position of Tehama County Superior Court Judge in the 2012 primary election.

This announcement follows Judge Richard Scheuler's recent decision that he will retire and not seek another term in office.

"I have received a tremendous amount of encouragement to seek the position of Superior Court judge from the legal community, law enforcement and the community at large," McGlynn said in a press release. "I believe that my experience will make me a highly effective judge and I look forward to the opportunity to serve the citizens of Tehama County.

Tehama County has been fortunate to have an excellent judiciary and I'm confident that I will carry forth with that tradition."

McGlynn has been practicing law for nearly 25 years in Tehama County, representing clients in every type of case that comes before a Superior Court judge. He has served as a court-appointed arbitrator, hearing evidence and making decisions in Tehama County Superior Court cases.

"During the course of my career, I have represented clients in all areas of civil, criminal, family, probate and business law," McGlynn said. "This broad range of experience will allow me to make the transition to Superior Court judge, as I have been dealing with the various areas of law that our Tehama County judges handle each and every day."

McGlynn graduated the Santa Clara University

School of Law, finishing second in his class. In 1986 he joined the law practice of his father, Thomas J. McGlynn. After becoming partner, he and his father formed the firm of McGlynn & McGlynn. The firm has been serving Tehama County for nearly 40 years.

McGlynn is a fourth-generation resident of Tehama County. He attended Sacred Heart School and Bidwell Junior High School. He graduated from Mercy High School in 1979 and attended the University of Santa Clara where he received an undergraduate degree in English in 1983.

Since his return to Red Bluff after law school, McGlynn has been an active member of the community. He was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Red Bluff-Tehama County Chamber of Commerce, where he later served as president.

He has been a member of the Red Bluff Kiwanis club since 1989, serving one term as president and acting as the director of the Kiwanis youth camp for six years.

Red Bluff attorney Matthew McGlynn has announced that he will run for the position of Tehama County Superior Court Judge in the 2012 primary election.

This announcement follows Judge Richard Scheuler's recent decision that he will retire and not seek another term in office.

"I have received a tremendous amount of encouragement to seek the position of Superior Court judge from the legal community, law enforcement and the community at large," McGlynn said in a press release. "I believe that my experience will make me a highly effective judge and I look forward to the opportunity to serve the citizens of Tehama County.

Tehama County has been fortunate to have an excellent judiciary and I'm confident that I will carry forth with that tradition."

McGlynn has been practicing law for nearly 25 years in Tehama County, representing clients in every type of case that comes before a Superior Court judge. He has served as a court-appointed arbitrator, hearing evidence and making decisions in Tehama County Superior Court cases.

"During the course of my career, I have represented clients in all areas of civil, criminal, family, probate and business law," McGlynn said. "This broad range of experience will allow me to make the transition to Superior Court judge, as I have been dealing with the various areas of law that our Tehama County judges handle each and every day."

McGlynn graduated the Santa Clara University

School of Law, finishing second in his class. In 1986 he joined the law practice of his father, Thomas J. McGlynn. After becoming partner, he and his father formed the firm of McGlynn & McGlynn. The firm has been serving Tehama County for nearly 40 years.

McGlynn is a fourth-generation resident of Tehama County. He attended Sacred Heart School and Bidwell Junior High School. He graduated from Mercy High School in 1979 and attended the University of Santa Clara where he received an undergraduate degree in English in 1983.

Since his return to Red Bluff after law school, McGlynn has been an active member of the community. He was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Red Bluff-Tehama County Chamber of Commerce, where he later served as president.

He has been a member of the Red Bluff Kiwanis club since 1989, serving one term as president and acting as the director of the Kiwanis youth camp for six years.

Red Bluff attorney Matthew McGlynn has announced that he will run for the position of Tehama County Superior Court Judge in the 2012 primary election.

This announcement follows Judge Richard Scheuler's recent decision that he will retire and not seek another term in office.

"I have received a tremendous amount of encouragement to seek the position of Superior Court judge from the legal community, law enforcement and the community at large," McGlynn said in a press release. "I believe that my experience will make me a highly effective judge and I look forward to the opportunity to serve the citizens of Tehama County.

Tehama County has been fortunate to have an excellent judiciary and I'm confident that I will carry forth with that tradition."

McGlynn has been practicing law for nearly 25 years in Tehama County, representing clients in every type of case that comes before a Superior Court judge. He has served as a court-appointed arbitrator, hearing evidence and making decisions in Tehama County Superior Court cases.

"During the course of my career, I have represented clients in all areas of civil, criminal, family, probate and business law," McGlynn said. "This broad range of experience will allow me to make the transition to Superior Court judge, as I have been dealing with the various areas of law that our Tehama County judges handle each and every day."

McGlynn graduated the Santa Clara University

School of Law, finishing second in his class. In 1986 he joined the law practice of his father, Thomas J. McGlynn. After becoming partner, he and his father formed the firm of McGlynn & McGlynn. The firm has been serving Tehama County for nearly 40 years.

McGlynn is a fourth-generation resident of Tehama County. He attended Sacred Heart School and Bidwell Junior High School. He graduated from Mercy High School in 1979 and attended the University of Santa Clara where he received an undergraduate degree in English in 1983.

Since his return to Red Bluff after law school, McGlynn has been an active member of the community. He was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Red Bluff-Tehama County Chamber of Commerce, where he later served as president.

He has been a member of the Red Bluff Kiwanis club since 1989, serving one term as president and acting as the director of the Kiwanis youth camp for six years.

Red Bluff attorney Matthew McGlynn has announced that he will run for the position of Tehama County Superior Court Judge in the 2012 primary election.

This announcement follows Judge Richard Scheuler's recent decision that he will retire and not seek another term in office.

"I have received a tremendous amount of encouragement to seek the position of Superior Court judge from the legal community, law enforcement and the community at large," McGlynn said in a press release. "I believe that my experience will make me a highly effective judge and I look forward to the opportunity to serve the citizens of Tehama County.

Tehama County has been fortunate to have an excellent judiciary and I'm confident that I will carry forth with that tradition."

McGlynn has been practicing law for nearly 25 years in Tehama County, representing clients in every type of case that comes before a Superior Court judge. He has served as a court-appointed arbitrator, hearing evidence and making decisions in Tehama County Superior Court cases.

"During the course of my career, I have represented clients in all areas of civil, criminal, family, probate and business law," McGlynn said. "This broad range of experience will allow me to make the transition to Superior Court judge, as I have been dealing with the various areas of law that our Tehama County judges handle each and every day."

McGlynn graduated the Santa Clara University

School of Law, finishing second in his class. In 1986 he joined the law practice of his father, Thomas J. McGlynn. After becoming partner, he and his father formed the firm of McGlynn & McGlynn. The firm has been serving Tehama County for nearly 40 years.

McGlynn is a fourth-generation resident of Tehama County. He attended Sacred Heart School and Bidwell Junior High School. He graduated from Mercy High School in 1979 and attended the University of Santa Clara where he received an undergraduate degree in English in 1983.

Since his return to Red Bluff after law school, McGlynn has been an active member of the community. He was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Red Bluff-Tehama County Chamber of Commerce, where he later served as president.

He has been a member of the Red Bluff Kiwanis club since 1989, serving one term as president and acting as the director of the Kiwanis youth camp for six years.

Indianapolis has a new head of its convention and tourism bureau and he's coming from San Francisco.

Leonard Hoops will become president of the Indianapolis Convention&Visitors Association May 31, the ICVA announced today. He was hired away from the San Francisco Travel Association, where he has been executive vice president and chief customer officer.

“Leonard's proven sales results, extensive marketing expertise, and strong convention industry knowledge make him the ideal person to take Indianapolis to the next level and capitalize on the city's new investments,” said Michael Browning, chairman of the ICVA.

Hoops replaces Don Welsh, who was recruited to lead the Chicago Convention&Tourism Bureau in January.

Hoops has 25 years of experience in convention and tourism marketing and corporate communications. He previously was vice president and chief marketing officer for the Sacramento Convention&Visitors Association.

The ICVA has a $13 million budget and staff of 59. San Francisco's convention and tourism group has a $12 million budget and staff of about 40.

Hoops has been named one of the “25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales&Marketing” by Hospitality Sales&Marketing Association International. He holds a bachelor's in journalism from San Jose State University and a master's in business administration from Santa Clara University.

Red Bluff attorney Matthew McGlynn has announced that he will run for the position of Tehama County Superior Court Judge in the 2012 primary election.

This announcement follows Judge Richard Scheuler's recent decision that he will retire and not seek another term in office.

"I have received a tremendous amount of encouragement to seek the position of Superior Court judge from the legal community, law enforcement and the community at large," McGlynn said in a press release. "I believe that my experience will make me a highly effective judge and I look forward to the opportunity to serve the citizens of Tehama County.

Tehama County has been fortunate to have an excellent judiciary and I'm confident that I will carry forth with that tradition."

McGlynn has been practicing law for nearly 25 years in Tehama County, representing clients in every type of case that comes before a Superior Court judge. He has served as a court-appointed arbitrator, hearing evidence and making decisions in Tehama County Superior Court cases.

"During the course of my career, I have represented clients in all areas of civil, criminal, family, probate and business law," McGlynn said. "This broad range of experience will allow me to make the transition to Superior Court judge, as I have been dealing with the various areas of law that our Tehama County judges handle each and every day."

McGlynn graduated the Santa Clara University

School of Law, finishing second in his class. In 1986 he joined the law practice of his father, Thomas J. McGlynn. After becoming partner, he and his father formed the firm of McGlynn & McGlynn. The firm has been serving Tehama County for nearly 40 years.

McGlynn is a fourth-generation resident of Tehama County. He attended Sacred Heart School and Bidwell Junior High School. He graduated from Mercy High School in 1979 and attended the University of Santa Clara where he received an undergraduate degree in English in 1983.

Since his return to Red Bluff after law school, McGlynn has been an active member of the community. He was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Red Bluff-Tehama County Chamber of Commerce, where he later served as president.

He has been a member of the Red Bluff Kiwanis club since 1989, serving one term as president and acting as the director of the Kiwanis youth camp for six years.

Indianapolis has a new head of its convention and tourism bureau and he's coming from San Francisco.

Leonard Hoops will become president of the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association May 31, the ICVA announced today. He was hired away from the San Francisco Travel Association, where he has been executive vice president and chief customer officer.

"Leonard's proven sales results, extensive marketing expertise, and strong convention industry knowledge make him the ideal person to take Indianapolis to the next level and capitalize on the city's new investments," said Michael Browning, chairman of the ICVA.

Hoops replaces Don Welsh, who was recruited to lead the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau in January.

Hoops has 25 years of experience in convention and tourism marketing and corporate communications. He previously was vice president and chief marketing officer for the Sacramento Convention & Visitors Association.

The ICVA has a $13 million budget and staff of 59. San Francisco's convention and tourism group has a $12 million budget and staff of about 40.

Hoops has been named one of the "25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales & Marketing" by Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International. He holds a bachelor's in journalism from San Jose State University and a master's in business administration from Santa Clara University.

State governors across the nation, led by newly elected right wing Republicans (with several Democratic governors in tow), are whipping up anti-union sentiment by declaring public workers and their unions are the cause of state budget deficits. They argue that various labor costs are driving up their deficits, but the lead cause of those labor costs is overly generous increases public employee pension benefits.

But increases in public employee pension benefits are not the cause of the States' budget crises. There are, indeed, serious pension funding gaps in many states public pension plans. But a close investigation of these gaps shows clearly they do not exist because of states' granting public employees exorbitant pension benefits.

The real reasons behind the pension funding gap are several.

First, weak and delayed recoveries from the recessions of 1990-91, 2001, and 2007-09 have meant feeble job creation and thus less contribution to pension fund balances. Here the phenomenon of ‘jobless recoveries' plays a critical role. Each recession over the last half century in the US has resulted in a longer time period for jobs to fully recover to their pre-recession levels. After the 2001 recession it took 46 months just to get back to a level of jobs that existed before the recession. Estimates today are it will take 84-96 months, or 7 to 8 years, for jobs to recover to 2007 levels. That's twice as long. And that means a projected larger pension gap.

But there's an even greater reason why pension funds have ended up short of income today. And that greater reason has been building for more than a decade. It's what is called the practice of ‘contribution holidays'; that is, pension managers refusing to put the necessary contributions into the funds—a practice in the public sector that has been going on since the mid-1990s and even before that in the private sector.

Contribution holidays in turn were made possible by fund managers employing fraudulent actuarial assumptions about rates of return on fund investments and, secondly, by assuming they would hire large numbers of younger workers when, in fact, that hiring never occurred. Both gimmicks allow a pension fund to appear adequately funded when in fact it isn't. They permit fund managers to maintain that the pension has more income and fewer liabilities than it in fact actually has.

The result of contribution holidays and fraudulent actuarial assumptions in the private sector contributed significantly to the collapse of many private pension funds since the 1980s and their replacement with 401k pension contribution plans. What's starting in the public sector today is merely a repeat of what happened already in the private sector. The goal, once again, is to replace real defined benefit pensions of public workers with nearly worthless 401k plans. What CEOs have been doing in the private sector for three decades, now governors are attempting to do as well.

In the 1980s there were over 100,000 of defined benefit pension plans in the private sector. Today there are around 28,000. The rest were dissolved or converted to 401k plans or hybrid versions called ‘cash balance plans'. That is, they were in effect transformed into 401ks and thus ‘privatized'. The typical conversion resulted in a payoff to employees to transfer to a 401k that was barely half that compared to what they would have received in total benefits from their prior defined benefit pension. Today the average balance in a 401k is about $18,000. That's all to fund an entire retirement period! The governors now want to do the same, to complete the shift to 401ks and privatization of the pensions in the public sector much like that already achieved in the private sector.

Inadequate pension funding due to recessions and weak job creation, due to the constant declaring of contribution holidays, and due to actuarial fraud are not the only causes of under-funded public pensions today.

The pension funding gap has also been magnified several fold since 2006 as a consequence of public employee pension fund managers' gambling on risky speculative investments. Prior to 2006 and the passage of the so-called Pension Protection Act, public pension fund managers weren't allowed to partner with Hedge Funds and other high risk financial institutions in high risk investments. After August 2006 it has become a widespread and common practice. After the Pension Act of 2006 pension funds were permitted to make loans to Hedge Funds and Private Equity firms, as well to plunge directly themselves into speculating in subprime mortgages and financial derivatives of all kinds. The 2006 Pension Act also permitted still further ‘contribution holidays'.

The result has been that since 2006 all pension funds have incurred great losses as a consequence speculative investing. These losses have added significantly to the pension funding gap in the public sector. It is estimated that public pension funds lost around 25%-30% of their total asset value in 2008-2010 as a result of their foray after 2006 into speculative investing in risky assets like subprimes, derivatives, foreign exchange, and the like. Most pension funds are considered adequately funded and are thus AAA quality if they are 85% funded. A loss of 30% means a funding drop to around 50% funded, as is the case of some of the ‘worst' funded state pensions like Illinois' state pension fund. But a funding fall of 30% is, on average, about the funding gap attributable to the recent recession and speculative excesses of fund managers. Is Illinois' ‘worst case' funding gap therefore solely the cause of these non-employee factors? It appears so. If Illinois is typical, then it may be that much of the current funding gap is due to investment losses—not due to public employees pension benefit hikes.

Still another possible cause is escalating health care costs. It is a well known fact that Federal tax law allow businesses to take money from their pension funds to cover costs in their health benefit plans. While states don't pay taxes to the federal government, could the same diversion of funds in the public sector explain part of the pension funding gap? It would at least warrant an investigation.

Local government (city) employees pensions were especially hard hit by investments in over the counter derivatives' interest rate swaps, which banks and other financial institutions talked them into in the run-up to the 2007-08 financial collapse. Their ‘pension funding gap' consequently grew even further as the pension funds experienced major investment losses.

It is clear therefore the pension funding gap is not the consequence of escalating pension benefits of the average or even bottom 90% of the public employee labor force—but is ultimately caused by the banks, by bad investments by public pension funds managers, by fraudulent accounting practices, by fund managers' failure to make appropriate contributions to the plans, by recessions, by diversion of funds to cover rising health costs, and by past Congresses and Presidents permitting pension funds to gamble and speculate with workers' retirement incomes.

Therefore before declaring employees' pension benefits increases as the cause of the gap, a detailed investigation state by state should be undertaken to determine exactly how much these preceding non-employee causes have been responsible for each state's pension funding gap.

Yet State governors, led by Republicans, are instead driving ahead and placing the blame on public employees and making them pay for the gap in pensions with their wages, jobs, and health care benefits. Their goal is converting state defined benefit pension plans to 401k plans and so-called ‘cash balance plans' that are a preliminary to 401ks. This conversion will lead in the public sector, as it did in the private before, to eliminating at least half of what public employees would have received in pension benefits. It will lead to the destruction of retirement security among workers in the public sector, just as it had previously among workers in the private.

Why should public workers' pension benefits be reduced to resolve the funding gap when they aren't the fundamental cause of it in the first place? Why not make those who created the pension funding gap pay—the Hedge Funds, Banks, Insurance companies, and other financial institutions that were responsible for the massive investment losses and the pension fund managers who negligently risked workers' pensions? Or the politicians who let them? And don't forget the government regulators who looked the other way while it all happened?

Making the real perpetrators pay for the funding gap will take time, critics say. And the funding gap is now. True. But why not, in the short run, temporarily stabilize public employee pensions (and thus a good part of States' budget deficits) by simply making the Federal Reserve provide direct loans to the pension funds at the same cost of 0.25% that the Fed has provided loans to other financial institutions the past two years. After all, pension funds are also financial institutions. And Fed loans won't add a cent to the federal or state budget deficits as an added plus.

It should not be forgotten that the same Federal Reserve provided $9 trillion to banks during the recent crisis—of which $1 trillion was loaned to foreign non-US banks! If the Fed can loan $1 trillion to foreign bankers and their wealthy bondholders and investors, why can't it do so to protect the retirement of millions of US workers in the public sector—who are the victims not the criminals responsible for the public pensions crisis.*

* A more comprehensive analysis of the larger question of what are the causes of States' budget crises is undertaken by the author in his forthcoming article in the April 2011 issue of ‘Z' magazine.

Jack Rasmus is a Professor of Economics at St. Mary's College and Santa Clara University. He is the author of Epic Recession: Prelude to Global Depression (Pluto Press - 2010) and the forthcoming 'Obama's Recover: Recovery for the Few' (Pluto Press - 2011). He has been a business economist, market analyst, vice-president of the National Writers Union and elected local union president and organizer for various labor unions. His website is: www.kyklosproductions.com

Like any other Catholic priest the one at St. Brigid of Kildare in Calgary opens Sunday mass with the sign of the cross.

During the mass scriptures are read, prayers are said, psalms are sung and the Eucharist is blessed.

But what differs at this mass is who is saying it.

The priest, Monica Kilburn-Smith, is a woman.

She considers herself an ordained Catholic priest, ordained through the same apostolic succession that ordains men as Catholic priests.

The church disagrees.

Because of her gender, Kilburn-Smith and the fifty or so Catholics who gathered to celebrate mass with her face excommunication.

The reason: Jesus never chose a woman to be his apostle.

"It's been our consistent teaching and consistent Christian teaching for more than 2,000 years," explains Father Stefano Penna, Dean of Theology at Newman Theological College.

And so, the church argues, for a woman to become a priest is for her to pretend to be something she is not, an act so severe in the church's eyes it is considered a crime against the faith.

In July the Vatican gave a name to this crime: delictum gravius, meaning grave crime, the same label it has given to pedophilia.

The church has since said it didn't mean to compare the two acts per se.

"But we are saying that they are still in their way serious breaks against the community," Penna clarifies.

The fact that the Catholic Church was so active in ending apartheid in South Africa and has stood up against so many other human rights violations many Catholics assumed the church would have done the same when it came to championing women's rights within the church.

“I would love it if they (the church) would do that for women too and show the way," says Kilburn-Smith.

But in that absence, The Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP), a group founded nine years ago in Europe, says it is showing the way.

"We are no longer waiting for permission from the Vatican," says Patricia Fresen, a Womanpriest bishop.

RCWP has since ordained more than 100 women in North America and abroad and is gaining momentum.

"We've taken a political stand within the framework of the church" and won't be deterred in our mission to restore equality within the Catholic Church by creating a different model of priesthood, one that is inclusive of everyone, explains Michele Birch-Conery, a Womanpriest in Victoria, B.C.

By everyone Birch-Conery means women, men, those who are divorced, those who are gay or lesbian or transgender.

Birch-Conery was the first woman ordained in Canada. She was made a deacon in 2004 on the Danube, the same location where two years earlier the first seven women were ordained by a renegade bishop.

The following year, two of those seven women were made bishops, by several male bishops whose identities they protect, in order for them to ordain other women through apostolic succession--the priestly line that the church traces back to Jesus' Apostles and legitimizes each ordination.

Unlike the traditional priestly model, Womenpriests can marry.

Many in fact are married, which is a major departure from doctrine which requires Catholic priests to be celibate.

Many Womenpriests also hold day jobs to pay the bills and see their role within the church community as one among the people rather than in a hierarchy on top of them.

Within the mass itself much of the language is changed to be less male dominated and more inclusive of “all (people) who are made in God's image.”

The RCWP movement -- while seemingly defiant and radical even for the times -- claims it is not new. RCWP argues it is actually a return to the church's origins and several historians agree.

According to Jesuit historian and professor of Theology at Santa Clara University, Gary Macy, the Catholic Church ordained women for nearly 11 centuries before misogyny and politics re-wrote doctrine.

Despite when and where this movement may have started, its future is dependent on its followers.

Calgary's St. Brigid's of Kildare has one of the largest faith communities of all the RCWP communities within Canada. Anywhere from twenty to fifty of these followers gather once a month in a church they rent from another Christian denomination.

Drawn by the promise of reform these Catholics, women and men young and old, all face the threat of excommunication for celebrating mass with a Womanpriest, according to the church.

"I don't care what they do or say it's not important to me. What's important is our community and what's in our hearts," explains Jenny Miller who has been attending St. Brigid for several years.

“The hierarchy says one thing, but the hierarchy is only one part of the church, one small part. We are the church, the people of the church are the church and that's Catholic teaching not just us saying that,” adds Kilburn-Smith.

In May a New York Times-CBS poll showed 59% of Catholics in the U.S. are in favor of ordaining women.

An opinion echoed by Kathleen Gleeson who regularly attends mass at St. Brigid.

"My family physician is a woman, the head of Save Children in Toronto is a woman, we have women who head engineering, all kinds of things, it's time the church stop treating women as second class citizens.”

Despite the times, the threat of being associated with this movement is still too great for some.

On the day we visited St. Brigid the presence of our camera kept a handful of people with jobs connected to the Catholic Church away.

"The fear is losing their jobs that would be worst scenario and nobody can say for sure, but it has happened other places," says Kilburn-Smith.

The RCWP and other organizations like it have a long way to go if they can ever convince the church to change doctrine, but it the movement is gaining momentum and followers say it is not going away anytime soon.

"Excommunication has happened to many people throughout the centuries who were reformers. Saint Francis was excommunicated and stripped naked before the people," points out Birch-Conery.

If nothing else, RCWP takes comfort knowing that they're in good company and are now at least being heard.

The U.S. Supreme Court on April 15 will convene a private conference to consider an appeal by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) for an expedited review of a federal judge's ruling in the state's lawsuit against the federal health reform law, CQ HealthBeat reports (Norman, CQ HealthBeat, 3/23).

Background on Lawsuit

In a December 2010 decision on the lawsuit -- in which Cuccinelli challenged the constitutionality of the reform law's individual coverage mandate -- U.S. District Court Judge Henry Hudson ruled that the mandate is unconstitutional because it exceeds Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce. Although Hudson struck down a central provision in the law, his ruling did not invalidate the law or block its implementation.

In formal notices of appeal to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Obama administration argued that Hudson was wrong in his ruling of the mandate, while Virginia officials argued that Hudson should have struck down the entire overhaul. In early February, federal judges in the Fourth Circuit appellate court agreed to move up to May 10 their review of Hudson's ruling. However, Cuccinelli filed a formal petition seeking an expedited review of the ruling in the Supreme Court before it has been fully reviewed in the appeals courts.

Last week, the administration filed formal documents asking the high court to reject Cuccinelli's petition because the appellate court already agreed to expedite its review of Hudson's ruling. Cuccinelli, in a brief filed on Tuesday, argued that "significant damage" would be "inflict[ed]" on states and other entities if the question about the law's constitutionality is not quickly resolved. He added that the Virginia lawsuit warrants rapid consideration by the Supreme Court because it meets the court's requirement of "imperative public importance" (California Healthline, 3/23).

Details of Supreme Court Meeting

According to CQ HealthBeat, under the high court's procedures, all nine justices will discuss and vote in private whether to accept or reject the petition for an expedited review, known as the writ of certiorari. Four justices would have to vote in favor for the review to move forward.

According to Santa Clara University law professor Brad Joondeph, the justices could issue their decision on the day of the meeting. However, the announcement of their decision also could be delayed a few days if one or more justices wish to issue a formal statement (CQ HealthBeat, 3/23).

Dave Ramsey is a well-known author and media personality famous for his focus on saving and getting your financial house in order. His books have hit The New York Times' bestseller list and 137,000 people follow his radio show's Twitter feed.

Praise seems to be universal when it comes to his advice on how to pay down debt and save. But his ideas about investing are far less popular with some, who argue they are irresponsibly optimistic. Why does he set hopes so high?

Ramsey's projections on investing are quite optimistic. He says investors can expect a lofty 12% annualized return on their investments. He also says they can plan to withdraw 8% of their savings each year in retirement. That's twice the 4% benchmark that's most commonly sited as the historically sustainable withdrawal rate.

Armed with such a rosy view, Ramsey has given the following remarkable example in his courses:

A 30-year-old couple making $48,000 and saving 15% per year, while earning 12% a year on their portfolio would have more than $7 million saved by the age of 70.

$7 million!

It seems too-good-to-be-true on its very surface and that made me wonder why someone who seems to be such a successful motivator (who's proven good at getting Americans — historically among worst savers on the planet — to stop borrowing and actually save) would chose to use such a far-out number.

There is a logic behind this super-sized projection according to behavioral finance expert and Santa Clara University Professor Meir Statman. “Making the reward for waiting larger helps us muster the self control necessary for delayed gratification,” Statman explains. “This is the purpose of the emphasis on the power of compounding.”

In his book “What Investors Really Want,” Statman uses the example of Lottery bonds, popular in the United Kingdom and other countries. The British bonds promise a return of principle and, instead of interest, a shot at lottery wins as great at 1 million British pounds. One-quarter of British households hold some form of lottery bond, which come in denominations as low as a single British pound. According to Statman they are especially popular with people who find it hard to save. “The vision of a big prize facilitates savings,” he explains.

In the 2007paper “Optimism and economic choice,” Duke academics Manju Puri and David T. Robinson also found that optimists are better savers. According to their research, a “one-standard deviation shift in optimism increases the probability of savings by about 2%.”

The study looked at optimists' work choices, tendency to remarry as well as their portfolio and investing moves. The authors determine that most of the evidence points to a conclusion that “optimism drives economic choices.”

There is a downside to being excessively upbeat, Statman warns: “A promise of an overly optimistic prize can lead to unwise choices, whether that's a promise of a $100 million prize for a $1 lottery ticket, or a promise of a 12% annual return which leads investors to portfolios that are too heavily skewed toward equities. Some lottery players win, and the market might reward us with long term returns of more than 12% per year. But this does not make such bets wise.”

Three of the most commonly voiced concerns about Ramsey's investing advice are:

1. Ramsey advises putting all your investments into equities, no stocks, REITs or other investments and keeping that same allocation up until retirement. This goes against most conventional wisdom, including the rule of thumb espoused by Vanguard's John Bogle and others that you own your age in bonds — so a 40-year-old would have a portfolio 40% bonds, 60% equities. A 70-year-old would hold 70% bonds, 30% equity. This strategy also contradicts the basic premise of one of the fastest-growing categories of mutual funds, Target Date Funds. Target Dates are designed to have a “glide path” that gets more conservative (i.e., has less in equities) as you get toward your “target” retirement date. On Oblivious Investor, Mike Piper warns this level of equities “… would expose most retired (or soon-to-be-retired) investors to a meaningful risk of running out of money as a result of a poorly timed bear market.”

2. Ramsey asserts that investors can expect a 12% annual return from their investments. This idea raised enough eyebrows that a few weeks ago, Ramsey's own blog posted an entry called “The 12% Reality.” It explains that the root of that 12% is the S&P 500′s average annual return from 1926 — the year of the S&P's inception — through 2010: 11.84%. That seems to ignore both the cost of investing and inflation. But it also doesn't address the huge gyrations that the index has gone through. In the decade of the 1950s, your return would have been even better than that 16.7% — bBut in the 1970s it was – 1.4%.

3. The idea that an investor can rely on pulling 8% a year out of their retirement seems chancy. That's twice the speed of the most common 4% rule of thumb — and even that is something conservative types like Jim Otar, think is far too much. Otar's argument is that a low withdrawal rate is your best defense against the market gyrations addressed above.

Optimism may be motivating, but has Dave Ramsey taken the power of positive thinking too far?

Would high-speed rail spending add jobs in the United States? Of course.

Even if some of the rolling stock for the trains were imported, structures and other permanent way would still have to be built in the United States. Under current conditions, any government spending - for rails, for bridges, for highways, for the military - would contribute to job creation.

Fears that government spending might displace or crowd out private-sector capital formation would be justified were we at or close to capacity. But we are not.

The unemployment rate remains almost 10 percent, and this doesn't account for those who, discouraged, have simply left the workforce.

Even more telling is the ratio of employment to population, which has fallen from its all-time high of over 64 percent in 1999 to 58 percent today. In spite of large "supply side" tax cuts tilted toward the wealthy, the record of the George W. Bush presidency on job creation was in fact quite poor.

For a variety of reasons, including the recent financial crisis, the U.S. economy remains in a serious slump. High-speed rail spending could stimulate job growth and help jump start the economy.

These projects would, of course, add to the deficit, and concerns about its long-term growth, particularly the growth attributable to health care, are merited.

Looking back over the last three decades, however, Republicans' interests in deficit reduction seem to have waxed and waned depending upon who occupied the White House.

The deficit ballooned under Bush, due largely to tax cuts but also to increases in military spending and a new unfunded prescription drug benefit. The resulting run-up in the debt was regrettable, but the time to cut government spending is when the economy is strong, not when it is weak.

If the country is going to incur new debt, it is better to do so to acquire well-chosen infrastructure and equipment than to fund consumption.

Would high-speed rail represent well-chosen infrastructure? In other words, would it help the United States "win the future"? This is a more complex question. It requires us to consider not simply whether such projects would help close the output gap, but whether and how effectively they would expand the potential output of the economy.

Here there are legitimate concerns about whether the U.S. has enough high-density corridors - such as that between Boston and Washington - to yield large benefits.

And building in dense areas can be costly. For example, the proposed Los Angeles to San Francisco route would go right through my backyard in Palo Alto, and the extent to which that part of the route will or will not be put underground has become a contentious political issue.

That said, state and federal governments have a long and largely successful record of supporting infrastructure development, from the Erie Canal to regional and transcontinental railroads to the Interstate Highway System and, more recently, to the Internet.

The build-out of the surface road network during the Great Depression generated large private-sector benefits, contributing to very fast productivity growth in transportation - railroads and trucking - as well as in wholesale and retail distribution.

High-speed rail projects could certainly create jobs and stimulate the economy in the short run. Whether they would generate benefits similar to those of other government-funded infrastructure projects is uncertain. History suggests, however, that there's a good chance they would.

Alexander J. Field is a professor of economics at Santa Clara University.

Mark Hurley takes on Bob Veres in round two of the valuation debate | View Clip03/23/2011RIABiz

I enjoyed Bob Veres' latest contribution to ongoing wealth management industry discussions on enterprise value, in which he questions certain conclusions of Fiduciary Network's recent white paper on the topic. (See: Bob Veres adds his bottom line to valuation debate started by Mark Hurley.) Contrary to popular opinion, Bob and I agree far more than we disagree and this article is no exception.

However, I'd like to clarify our position with respect to a few issues on which we do differ and to highlight certain important aspects of our analysis that Bob did not mention. More specifically:

• While we agree with Bob that “astonishingly few” wealth management firms – when compared to the total number of industry participants – have been acquired by outsiders, we dispute his contention that the sample size prevents us from drawing any meaningful conclusions on the intrinsic value of these businesses.

Most of the transactions with outside buyers have been completed with wealth management firms that have more than $2 million of annual revenue – a market of perhaps 1,200 to 1,400 firms. When comparing the completed transactions against that market (rather than the full 17,000 to 29,000 of industry participants), you can get a representative sample. Consequently, we do know something about the market for larger firms.

Specifically, we know that in all but a few transactions, the owners were paid less on a risk adjusted basis than they would have received by just holding onto their businesses and pocketing the profits until retirement. In the course of researching for the white paper, we reverse- engineered nearly 100 different transactions involving larger wealth management firms using information provided by various transaction participants (e.g. employees of either the buyer and/or the seller.)

As described in great detail in our paper – and contrary to the wild eyed claims of various investment bankers and more than a few selling owners – most buyers had the upper hand because they were far more sophisticated than the sellers in the design of transaction structures that allocate risk. Buyers also capitalized on “deal fatigue” – the inevitable emotional attrition that accompanies a sale process – eventually wearing down the selling owners until they agreed to irrational terms.

• Bob states that our paper concluded that only 400 or so advisory firms would ever have any enterprise value. Our actual position was more nuanced: we believe that only about 400 wealth management firms have the potential to build long-term sustainable enterprise value on a standalone basis. As we pointed out in the study, approximately 1,000 additional wealth management firms possess potential enterprise value that can be captured only if the organizations are acquired by other, larger wealth managers.

• Bob questions our conclusion regarding the number of firms with the potential to build enterprise value. He argues that the scalability offered by rapidly improving technology platforms (largely provided by custodians) will combine with industry growth (as the brokerage model continues to decline) to allow a much larger number of firms to build value.

We agree that technology is improving and that the industry has great growth prospects but we believe that certain fundamental aspects of the wealth management firm economic model will continue to limit the universe of firms capable of creating enterprise value.

First, the key constraint to the scalability of any wealth manager is the client intake process. New clients require 15 to 20 times more time and resources than established clients. For example, our research suggests that a typical wealth management firm with 150 clients could likely service 150 additional established clients with only de minimis incremental costs. However, that same firm would be overwhelmed if 25 new clients simultaneously showed up on the doorstep of the firm.

Improved technology is doing nothing to address this constraint on near term growth because it is unrelated to the core value added function of any wealth manager and with what takes the predominance of time involved with new clients. As so presciently pointed out by Meir Statman, a Santa Clara University professor and expert in behavioral finance, wealth managers are “financial physicians.” They first diagnose and help clients to understand their problems and then (and only then) formulate a solution. The diagnosis function that accompanies new clients is exceptionally time intensive, and the skills it requires – a combination of training, experience and judgment – cannot be replicated by a computer program.

Second, Bob's argument ignores the cost side of the enterprise value equation. Wealth management firm operating margins are under assault from accelerating non-owner compensation, the single largest cost in the wealth manager economic model. As shown in our study, non-owner comp is rising much faster than revenues because the industry has a substantial generation gap with more than 60% of its participants older than 50 and only 24% between the ages of 35 and 50. With only one experienced person in the industry to replace two and a half that will likely leave over the next decade, it is reasonable to assume that labor costs will continue to grow at a very high rate.

Consequently, even though wealth managers will continue to grow, their challenge will be to grow revenues even faster than the rate at which operating costs will rise. However, doing so will mean that firms will have to get much larger, and much faster, forcing these organizations to undergo a complex and difficult evolution.

• Finally, Bob concludes his article encouraging wealth managers to be “skeptical” about the “hype” surrounding the likely value that they will ultimate capture when they sell their firms. While we agree with his premise, we differ with Bob when he goes on to argue that it is more likely that owners will capture greater value for their businesses than they might currently expect. This viewpoint ignores that the market for wealth managers to date has been ferociously efficient and that only a very small number of firms are currently taking the necessary steps to build sustainable earnings in their companies (and thus, enterprise value). So rather than tamp down much of the hype in the industry, it appears that Bob is instead fanning its flames.

If you want a free copy of the white paper, you can download it at www.fiduciarynetwork.net. Here's RIABiz's coverage of the paper: What to make of Mark Hurley's latest prophesy that most RIA firms will go out with a whimper.”

Mark Hurley is CEO of Fiduciary Network, a firm that provides passive capital to wealth management firms to acquire other firms, and finance management buyouts and internal successions.

Andy,

Having come from the world of open software (OSF at HP) the points you ...

Like any other Catholic priest the one at St. Brigid of Kildare in Calgary opens Sunday mass with the sign of the cross.

During the mass scriptures are read, prayers are said, psalms are sung and the Eucharist is blessed.

But what differs at this mass is who is saying it.

The priest, Monica Kilburn-Smith, is a woman.

She considers herself an ordained Catholic priest, ordained through the same apostolic succession that ordains men as Catholic priests.

But because of her gender, Kilburn-Smith and the fifty or so Catholics who gathered to celebrate mass with her face excommunication.

The reason: Jesus never chose a woman to be his apostle.

"It's been our consistent teaching and consistent Christian teaching for more than 2,000 years," explains Father Stefano Penna, Dean of Theology at Newman Theological College.

And so, the church argues, for a woman to become a priest is for her to pretend to be something she is not, an act so severe in the church's eyes it is considered a crime against the faith.

In July the Vatican gave a name to this crime: delictum gravius, meaning grave crime, the same label it has given to pedophilia.

The church has since said it didn't mean to compare the two acts per se.

"But we are saying that they are still in their way serious breaks against the community," Penna clarifies.

The fact that the Catholic Church was so active in ending apartheid in South Africa and has stood up against so many other human rights violations many Catholics assumed the church would have done the same when it came to championing women's rights within the church.

“I would love it if they (the church) would do that for women too and show the way," says Kilburn-Smith.

But in that absence, The Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP), a group founded nine years ago in Europe, is showing the way.

"We are no longer waiting for permission from the Vatican," says Patricia Fresen, a Womanpriest bishop.

RCWP has since ordained more than 100 women in North America and abroad and is gaining momentum.

"We've taken a political stand within the framework of the church" and won't be deterred in our mission to restore equality within the Catholic Church by creating a different model of priesthood, one that is inclusive of everyone, explains Michele Birch-Conery, a Womanpriest in Victoria, B.C.

By everyone Birch-Conery means women, men, those who are divorced, those who are gay or lesbian or transgender.

Birch-Conery was the first woman ordained in Canada. She was made a deacon in 2004 on the Danube, the same location where two years earlier the first seven women were ordained by a renegade bishop.

The following year, two of those seven women were made bishops, by several male bishops whose identities they protect, in order for them to ordain other women through apostolic succession--the priestly line that the church traces back to Jesus' Apostles and legitimizes each ordination.

Unlike the traditional priestly model, Womenpriests can marry.

Many in fact are married, which is a major departure from doctrine which requires Catholic priests to be celibate.

Many Womenpriests also hold day jobs to pay the bills and see their role within the church community as one among the people rather than in a hierarchy on top of them.

Within the mass itself much of the language is changed to be less male dominated and more inclusive of “all (people) who are made in God's image.”

The RCWP movement -- while seemingly defiant and radical even for the times -- is not new. RCWP argues it is actually a return to the church's origins and several historians agree.

According to Jesuit historian and professor of Theology at Santa Clara University, Gary Macy, the Catholic Church ordained women for nearly 11 centuries before misogyny and politics re-wrote doctrine.

Despite when and where this movement may have started, its future is dependent on its followers.

Calgary's St. Brigid's of Kildare has one of the largest faith communities of all the RCWP communities within Canada. Anywhere from twenty to fifty of these followers gather once a month in a church they rent from another Christian denomination.

Drawn by the promise of reform these Catholics, women and men young and old, all face the threat of excommunication for celebrating mass with a Womanpriest, according to the church.

"I don't care what they do or say it's not important to me. What's important is our community and what's in our hearts," explains Jenny Miller who has been attending St. Brigid for several years.

“The hierarchy says one thing, but the hierarchy is only one part of the church, one small part. We are the church, the people of the church are the church and that's Catholic teaching not just us saying that,” adds Kilburn-Smith.

In May a New York Times-CBS poll showed 59% of Catholics in the U.S. are in favor of ordaining women.

An opinion echoed by Kathleen Gleeson who regularly attends mass at St. Brigid.

"My family physician is a woman, the head of Save Children in Toronto is a woman, we have women who head engineering, all kinds of things, it's time the church stop treating women as second class citizens.”

Despite the times, the threat of being associated with this movement is still too great for some.

On the day we visited St. Brigid the presence of our camera kept a handful of people with jobs connected to the Catholic Church away.

"The fear is losing their jobs that would be worst scenario and nobody can say for sure, but it has happened other places," says Kilburn-Smith.

The RCWP and other organizations like it have a long way to go if they can ever convince the church to change doctrine, but it the movement is gaining momentum and followers say it is not going away anytime soon.

"Excommunication has happened to many people throughout the centuries who were reformers. Saint Francis was excommunicated and stripped naked before the people," points out Birch-Conery.

If nothing else, RCWP can take comfort knowing that they're in good company and are now at least being heard.

Originally published March 22, 2011 at 2 p.m., updated March 22, 2011 at 4:52 p.m.

With the appointment Tuesday of a Mill Valley financier to the California Public Utilities Commission, Gov. Jerry Brown's appointees now hold a majority in one of the most powerful state boards.

The governor appointed Mark Ferron, 52, who has spent decades in the financial. He is currently a senior partner of Silicon Valley Social Ventures and a board fellow of the New Teacher Center.

He's not well known among the utility, consumer and environmental groups that frequently appear before the PUC.

He joins two other Brown appointees to the five-member commission in time for its meeting Thursday.

In January, the governor appointed Mike Florio, a senior lawyer for TURN, a consumer advocacy group, and Catherine Sandoval, an associate professor at Santa Clara University School of Law.

The other members are PUC President Michael Peevey, appointed by Gray Davis, and Commissioner Timothy Simon, appointed by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The PUC decides how big for-profit power companies, including San Diego Gas & Electric, run their systems and spend money they get from ratepayers. It also decides how much money they can collect through utility bills.

That includes, for example, whether big projects like the Sunrise Powerlink are needed, and how key infrastructure, like the state's natural gas pipelines, are built and maintained.

Schwarzenegger urged the commission to push his agenda for moving towards green power and reducing the state's greenhouse gas emissions, positions that Brown supports.

In recent years, critics have accused the commission of being too cozy with those it is supposed to regulate.

The commission's members typically serve staggered terms, which means that it's rare for a governor to appoint a majority, particularly so quickly.

But some commissioners appointed by Schwarzenegger resigned or did not get the needed Senate approval, giving Brown the opportunity to name a majority.

Ferron joined Deutsche Bank in 1996, and was chief operating officer of its London-based Global Markets division from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was a vice president at Salomon Brothers and at Bank of America.

Most of the UC's have announced their class of 2015. Berkeley comes out this Thursday 4/24. For those of you still waiting to hear from your school of choice here is an up to date list of when schools plan on sending out their admission notices. Good Luck

High-speed rail a good step for the future | View Clip03/23/2011Sun News - Online, The

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Would high-speed rail spending add jobs in the United States? Of course.

Even if some of the rolling stock for the trains were imported, structures and other permanent way would still have to be built in the United States. Under current conditions, any government spending - for rails, for bridges, for highways, for the military - would contribute to job creation.

Fears that government spending might displace or crowd out private-sector capital formation would be justified were we at or close to capacity. But we are not.

Can high-speed rail boost the U.S. economy?

Barbour contrasts himself with Obama on economy

'Tough choices' in budget

Voters' No. 1 issue is jobs

Rail boondoggle pie in the sky

October adds to payrolls

The unemployment rate remains almost 10 percent, and this doesn't account for those who, discouraged, have simply left the work force.

Even more telling is the ratio of employment to population, which has fallen from its all-time high of over 64 percent in 1999 to 58 percent today. In spite of large "supply side" tax cuts tilted toward the wealthy, the record of the George W. Bush presidency on job creation was in fact quite poor.

For a variety of reasons, including the recent financial crisis, the U.S. economy remains in a serious slump. High-speed rail spending could stimulate job growth and help jump-start the economy.

These projects would, of course, add to the deficit and concerns about its long term growth, particularly that attributable to health care, which are merited.

Looking back over the last three decades, however, Republicans' interests in deficit reduction seems to have waxed and waned depending upon who occupied the White House.

The deficit ballooned under Bush, due largely to tax cuts but also to increases in military spending and a new unfunded prescription drug benefit. The resulting run-up in the debt was regrettable, but the time to cut government spending is when the economy is strong, not when it is weak.

If the country is going to incur new debt, it is better to do so to acquire well-chosen infrastructure and equipment than to fund consumption.

Would high-speed rail represent well-chosen infrastructure? In other words, would it help the U.S. "win the future"? This is a more complex question. It requires us to consider not simply whether such projects would help close the output gap, but whether and how effectively they would expand the potential output of the economy.

Here there are legitimate concerns about whether the U.S. has enough high density corridors - such as that between Boston and Washington - to yield large benefits.

And building in dense areas can be costly. For example, the proposed Los Angeles to San Francisco route would go right through my backyard in Palo Alto, and the extent to which that part of the route will or will not be put underground has become a contentious political issue.

That said, state and federal governments have a long and largely successful record of supporting infrastructure development, from the Erie Canal to regional and transcontinental railroads to the Interstate Highway System and, more recently, to the Internet.

The build-out of the surface road network during the Great Depression generated large private-sector benefits, contributing to very fast productivity growth in transportation -railroads and trucking - as well as in wholesale and retail distribution.

High-speed rail projects could certainly create jobs and stimulate the economy in the short run. Whether they would generate benefits similar to those of other government funded infrastructure projects is uncertain. History suggests, however, that there's a good chance they would.

Contact Field, a professor of economics at Santa Clara University, at afield@scu.edu.

Eric Goldman is an Associate Professor of Law and Director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law. His research and teaching focuses on Internet, IP and marketing law topics, and he blogs on those topics at the Technology & Marketing Law Blog.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Two alumni who have committed their lives to promoting peace, understanding, and humanitarian aid will speak at Santa Clara University's undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremonies this spring.

Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony

Dr. Khaled Hosseini, best-selling author, physician, and Santa Clara University alumnus, will be the commencement speaker for SCU's undergraduate class of 2011.

“I look forward to speaking to the graduates as they stand on the verge of bringing their ambitions and ideas to a greater world outside of Santa Clara University. It will be my privilege to provoke them to thought one more time before they leave the home of their formal education,” says Hosseini.

Santa Clara University announced that Hosseini will deliver the commencement address on Saturday, June 11 at 8 am at Buck Shaw Stadium. He also will receive an honorary degree of doctorate of Humane Letters for carrying forth the Jesuit mission of social justice. Read more.

Graduate Commencement Ceremony

Sharon M.K. Kugler, a Santa Clara University alumna and the first Catholic woman to hold the position of University Chaplain at Yale University, will address SCU's graduate students at their 2011 commencement ceremony Friday, June 10. The commencement will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the university's Leavey Events Center.

In attendance will be 600 or so students receiving advanced degrees from the School of Engineering, the Leavey School of Business, and the School of Education and Counseling Psychology, and the College of Arts and Sciences.

“We are very happy to have Ms. Kugler speak to our graduate students this year,” said University President Michael Engh, S.J. “She has spent much of her career shaping the spiritual growth of young people, and she embodies the vital contribution of committed laypeople to the advancement of religious education and spiritual development.” Read more.

About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University is a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California's Silicon Valley. Santa Clara offers its more than 8,800 students rigorous undergraduate programs in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master's degrees in a number of professional fields, law degrees, and engineering and theology doctorates. Distinguished by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master's universities, Santa Clara educates leaders of competence, conscience, and compassion grounded in faith-inspired values. Founded in 1851, Santa Clara is California's oldest operating institution of higher education. For more information, see www.scu.edu.

A league of our own: university athletics in Canada | View Clip03/22/2011Charlatan, The - Online

University of British Columbia (UBC) coaches were heavily recruiting Marc Trasolini in 2007.

Trasolini, a six-foot-nine Vancouver native, says coaches took him to dinner, spoke with his parents and told him he'd receive a basketball scholarship.

In the end, he chose to attend Santa Clara University in California on a full scholarship, because he says Santa Clara offers him a better opportunity to play professional basketball after he graduates.

“I didn't want to stay at home because I knew the good players go down south,” he says. “The talent level is so high. A lot of teams have NBA prospects.”

On the surface, Trasolini's decision to play basketball in the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) could be another example of Canadian inferiority and U.S. hubris when it comes to sport.

But it is more than that.

Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) cannot compare with the NCAA economically, culturally and competitively, nor is it designed to.

Professional practices

“It's a professional operation in Division I schools in the United States,“ says Darwin Semotiuk, professor of kinesiology and sports expert at the University of Western Ontario.

The NCAA has an annual revenue of $757 million, largely from advertisements and television broadcasts, according to their 2010-11 budget.

However, the budget doesn't include jersey sales and other merchandise. This revenue is filtered to the schools based on success and the level of competition (Division I, II and III).

Large Division I schools like Ohio State University make the most money, pulling annual revenues of around $120 million, according to Semotiuk.

However, division II and III schools make a fraction of division I, and many of the schools are lucky to break even or are subsidized by the government.

The CIS model is completely different.

It's about offering student athletes an academic environment so they can graduate with a degree.

The primary purpose is not to be a training ground for professional sport, it's about responsible citizenry, Semotiuk says. He also says the CIS places the interest of the student first and athlete second.

Focusing on academics offers the athletes the ability to make a living once they graduate, and Semotiuk thinks the NCAA is different.

“If you are given the decision to go to chemistry class or practice at Ohio State,” Semotiuk says. “You're not learning chemistry that day.”

Although, NCAA athletes rarely become professionals. It's only the top-tier performers who can turn athletics into a career.

For instance, Trasolini, in his third year studying finance, hopes to play basketball in Europe when he graduates, and afterwards work in business. His degree offers him flexibility in the future.

Haves and have-nots

The financial disparity between NCAA division I schools and CIS means U.S. schools can offer their students more.

He also says recruiting is serious business in the U.S. and a couple of his coaches are gone every day to recruit high school players on the road.

Trasolini recalls being recruited by small U.S. schools and feeling like at times he was being stalked.

Schools he'd never heard of were calling at home and sending him letters and emails.

Because college sports is big business, so is recruiting top talent. In fact, NCAA schools regularly start recruiting athletes in Grade 9, according to Kent Ridley, the head scout of Ridley Scouting, a service helping Canadian athletes promote themselves to colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada. The top U.S. high school athletes sometimes broadcast their decisions on national television, like the All-American Army game, where some of the top football players choose the colleges they will attend during the game.

Some U.S. athletes even sign letters of intent to commit to colleges before they begin their senior year of high school.

Top athletes help bring large profits to schools, but are barred from receiving any pay from institutions by the NCAA.

In turn, there are multiple NCAA violations a year given to top programs and athletes for breaking these rules.

The latest high profile controversy involves Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel, who was aware that some of the team's players were selling merchandise for tattoos.

He was fined $250,000 and suspended for two games by Ohio State University and the NCAA could penalize him further after they investigate the incident. In comparison, Ridley says Canadian universities don't look hard at athletes until the end of high school.

Canadian schools do not offer full scholarships to students, although they can offer to pay for tuition and other fees.

Another factor in the disparity between U.S. and Canadian schools is the size of coaching staffs.

NCAA teams have seven to eight staff coaches, in addition to part-time workers to help with recruiting. This frees coaches to go on recruiting trips like Trasolini mentioned.

Ridley said Université Laval is the only school in Canada with multiple full-time staff coaches.

Different leagues

“The whole American approach to sport is different,” said Mike Renney, associate director of athletics and head coach of the women's softball team at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Burnaby, B.C.

SFU played in both the CIS and in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), a smaller American league.In 2009, they applied to become the first foreign school to play in the NCAA.

Renney says SFU applied to the NCAA because they wanted to reconnect with rival U.S. schools, who left the NAIA for division II in 1998-99, and playing in the NCAA cuts down expensive travel costs across Canada.

The level of competition was another reason, Renney says.

The good CIS teams can compete with Division II schools, but there is a big talent divide between the good and bad, Renney says. He also says the top athletes in the CIS will be top athletes anywhere, it's just the NCAA has more top athletes.

“The unfortunate thing is there is not enough top teams to push us to the next level. It is a completely different world in terms of college sports,” says Renney.

U.S. schools are centred around their athletics. Many schools are in small college towns and the local newspapers devote numerous pages to their college sports. NCAA games are also broadcast on local television, generating revenue for the schools and most major sporting events like basketball and football are sell-outs during the season.

The Canadian collegiate game is largely unrecognized nationally or locally, in comparison.

“It's frustrating when you end up in a gym or stadium and it's basically friends and family. There is hardly anybody who doesn't have a direct tie to a player on the floor,” laments Ridley.

Two big trends here: building management continues to rise and IBM shops for value.

IBM today announced that it will buy Tririga, a software company that specializes in commissioning and building management tools for large, commercial office buildings.

"If you have over a million square feet of real estate, you are a natural fit for us," said George Ahn, CEO of Tririga in a profile in 2008. Ahn is an alum of IBM.

The company's software can be found in the facilities owned by 1/3 of the Fortune 100. Customer includew General Electric and Nokia.

Buildings account for approximately 39 percent of all energy use in the U.S. and commercial buildings account for around half of that total. (IBM's press release mistakenly says that buildings account for 70 percent of all energy use in the U.S.: they do account for over 70 percent of all electricity use.)

A huge portion of that power, moreover, gets wasted: lights get left on after employees leave home. Air conditioners flip on during cold days because the control system is set to flick them on at 4:00 pm no matter what. In Chicago, many skyscrapers are heated with electricity. Commissioning, or resetting these controls, happens infrequently and often involves hiring a bunch of consultants. Ugh.

"The way we heat and cool buildings in the U.S. is absolutely ridiculous," says Jim Lee, CEO of Tririga competitor Cimetrics.

As a result, companies large and small have been rushing into the space to establish niches. Many companies, such as Scientific Conservation, create software that rides on top of the existing building management systems from outfits like Honeywell and Johnson Controls that serves to enhance those systems. Some, such as Optimum Energy, focus on specific functions: Optimum's software seeks to control air conditioner chillers by examining weather patterns.

Others, like EnerNoc, are going for the whole building management/commissioning enchilada and creating full-fledged building management systems and tying them into demand response networks. (Disclosure: this is one of my favorite segments in greentech so the enthusiasm can be a bit much.)

Interestingly, the Tririga purchase fits a pattern that has been evolving in this space. Namely, it is not the big, heavily-funded startups backed through several rounds by VCs that are getting bought. Instead, acquirers are looking for value plays with existing clients. (Here's the first story on it.)

Last year, Siemens bought SureGrid, a company with a few big clients (Michael's stores) and little outside funding. Serious Materials got into building management last yearby snapping up Valence Energy, which had just emerged out of Santa Clara University. Last year, Schneider Electric bought Vizelia, a company with 12 employees but 4 million Euros in revenue. Honeywell, EnerNoc and others have made some acquisitions too.

How come they can value shop? Partly, it's a function of supply. Mike Dauber at Battery Ventures told us a few months ago that there is a surprising number of commissioning/building management firms in the country. Many have been around for a few years, are self-funded, and have existing cilents.

So who is left? Cimetrics has a number of university clients. BuildingIQ has shown data in Australia how it can siginficantly lower energy consumption and it is run by a Goldman Sachs alum who probably can navigate a term sheet. A new company, Retroficiency, just emerged out of MIT that specializes in software for coming up with strategies for building retrofits.

And then there are the lighting networking companies like Lumetric, Lumenergi, Adura Technologies, Daintree Networks and Redwood Systems. Lights are generally not controlled by traditional building management systems. While lights account for 22 percent of all electricity in buildings, only one percent of California office buildings tout networked lights. Expect a shopping spree in light management soon.

Mill Valley resident Mark Ferron, a former international banker who now spends his time as a charity executive, was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday to the California Public Utilities Commission.

Ferron, 52, is a senior partner at Silicon Valley Social Ventures, which according to its website "is a donor network that leverages its financial, intellectual, and human capital to make a meaningful, measurable impact in Silicon Valley and beyond."

Most of Ferron's career, however, has been spent in banking. He worked as chief operating officer for the global markets division of Deutsche Bank in London from 2001 to 2009. Before joining Deutsche Bank he was a vice president at Salomon Brothers from 1994 to 1996, and was a vice president at Bank of America from 1986 to 1994.

Ferron holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Notre Dame and a master's degree in economics from Stanford University. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Commission President Michael R. Peevey, said, "Commissioner Ferron brings tremendous experience in financial services to the CPUC and will be a real asset to us and to the state's consumers."

Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, a consumer advocacy group, said, "the commission has been under a lot of criticism for being too cozy with the companies they regulate and really being too soft on PG&E in general, so Commissioner Ferron comes at a

pivotal time.

"We don't know a lot about him other than that he spent his career working in the banking and finance industry," Toney said. "We're hopeful that he will stand with the public interest of more accountability, that he will support an opt-out for smart meters, and that he will take consumer interests into account with all of his decision making."

Marin County Supervisor Charles McGlashan of Mill Valley, who early on expressed interest in seeking appointment to the utilities commission himself, said he doesn't know Ferron.

"His bio reads very impressively. He's probably a good pick," said McGlashan, who serves as chairman of the Marin Energy Authority.

McGlashan said he gave up the idea of seeking appointment to the commission after Brown made Nancy McFadden his executive secretary for legislation, appointments and policy. McFadden had been a senior vice president at Pacific Gas and Electric Co., where she helped oversee the company's push for Proposition 16. The initiative, defeated last year, would have required a public vote before local governments could enter the energy business.

Ferron was Brown's third appointment to the five-member utilities commission. In January, the governor appointed Mike Florio, a senior attorney with The Utility Reform Network, and Catherine Sandoval, an associate professor at Santa Clara University School of Law.

Ferron donated $25,900 to Brown's gubernatorial campaign, the maximum legal contribution, according to the website Followthemoney.org.

"The biggest contributors get the best prizes, and the PUC is an extraordinarily powerful government regulatory agency, perhaps the most powerful in the state," said Marc O'Hara, a Simi Valley political consultant who often manages campaigns in Marin County.

Ferron, a Democrat, has also made nearly $200,000 in contributions to other Democratic candidates across the country since 2004. He has contributed to the campaigns of Barack Obama, Barbara Boxer, Russell Feingold and Al Franken, to name a few.

Ferron's appointment to the PUC requires confirmation by the state Senate. Commissioners are paid $128,109 a year.

Study Looks at Race's Role in Investing | View Clip03/22/2011MainStreet.com

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- Ethnicity and cultural background may play a large role in how people invest and save.

For instance: A majority of Chinese American households do not save enough of their income, choosing instead to invest the majority of their net worth in the stock market, According to a study by Rui Yao, personal financial planning professor in the University of Missouri's School of Human Environmental Sciences, in a recent Journal of East Asian Studies.

It's typically advised that at least three months' worth of income should be saved and liquid in case of an emergency or income disruption. It's a rule of thumb Chinese Americans seem to ignore, Rao says, despite the high savings rates found in China.

"Less than 50% of Chinese Americans meet the emergency fund ratio guideline, but they are also investing more than average," she says. "Chinese Americans tend to have too much exposure in the stock market. In an emergency, stocks and bonds can be quickly sold and liquidated, but when the markets are down, like they are now, it is not wise to sell your stocks because you won't get a good return back on them."

Chinese Americans represent the largest group of Asians in the United States, yet relatively little research has been done on them, Yao says.

Similar studies have shown a similar, higher risk tolerance among Hispanic families, and less among whites and African Americans.

The differences may lie in the difference between collectivism and individualism, cultural traits that persist even after assimilation in American culture.

That's among the conclusions presented in research that also focuses on Chinese Americans, by Meir Statman, a professor of finance at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business, and Jessica Weng, director for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nelson Capital Management.

They draw upon studies that have "attributed the relatively high investment risk tolerance of the Chinese to the 'cushion' provided by extended families in its collectivistic society."

People are more willing to take risk in collectivistic societies than individualistic ones because they know their families will provide for them if they fail.

The United States ranks first among countries ranked by individualism, Statman and Weng say. They "do help parents who fall into poverty, but certainly not to the extent that parents are helped in countries such as China, where 'filial loyalty' is expected."

A survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Research also shows that money-related attitudes can vary by ethnicity.

African Americans and Hispanics were found to have a more positive outlook for the U.S. economy and their own financial situation than whites. The survey also showed that African Americans were more focused on paying off consumer debt than whites and Asians. Asians were more likely than other races and ethnicities to prioritize paying off a mortgage and less likely than others to focus on just covering basic expenses.

Study Shows Ethnicty May Play A Large Role In How People Invest | View Clip03/22/2011WABC-TV - Online (press release)

BOSTON ( TheStreet ) -- Ethnicity and cultural background may play a large role in how people invest and save. For instance: A majority of Chinese American households do not save enough of their income, choosing instead to invest the majority of their net worth in the stock market, According to a study by Rui Yao, personal financial planning professor in the University of Missouri's School of Human Environmental Sciences, in a recent Journal of East Asian Studies . It's typically advised that at least three months' worth of income should be saved and liquid in case of an emergency or income disruption. It's a rule of thumb Chinese Americans seem to ignore, Rao says, despite the high savings rates found in China. "Less than 50% of Chinese Americans meet the emergency fund ratio guideline, but [they] are also investing more than average," she says. "Chinese Americans tend to have too much exposure in the stock market. In an emergency, stocks and bonds can be quickly sold and liquidated, but when the markets are down, like they are now, it is not wise to sell your stocks because you won't get a good return back on them." Chinese Americans represent the largest group of Asians in the United States, yet relatively little research has been done on them, Yao says. Similar studies have shown a similar, higher risk tolerance among Hispanic families, and less among whites and African Americans. The differences may lie in the difference between collectivism and individualism, cultural traits that persist even after assimilation in American culture. That's among the conclusions presented in research that also focuses on Chinese Americans, by Meir Statman, a professor of finance at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business, and Jessica Weng, director for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nelson Capital Management. They draw upon studies that have "attributed the relatively high investment risk tolerance of the Chinese to the 'cushion' provided by extended families in its collectivistic society." People are more willing to take risk in collectivistic societies than individualistic ones because they know their families will provide for them if they fail. The United States ranks first among countries ranked by individualism, Statman and Weng say. They "do help parents who fall into poverty, but certainly not to the extent that parents are helped in countries such as China, where 'filial loyalty' is expected." A survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Research also shows that money-related attitudes can vary by ethnicity. African Americans and Hispanics were found to have a more positive outlook for the U.S. economy and their own financial situation than whites. The survey also showed that African Americans were more focused on paying off consumer debt than whites and Asians. Asians were more likely than other races and ethnicities to prioritize paying off a mortgage and less likely than others to focus on just covering basic expenses. This post originally appeared at The Street . Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Pension Plans Keep Betting On Hedge Funds

Study Shows Ethnicty May Play A Large Role In How People Invest | View Clip03/22/2011WTVG-TV - Online (press release)

BOSTON ( TheStreet ) -- Ethnicity and cultural background may play a large role in how people invest and save. For instance: A majority of Chinese American households do not save enough of their income, choosing instead to invest the majority of their net worth in the stock market, According to a study by Rui Yao, personal financial planning professor in the University of Missouri's School of Human Environmental Sciences, in a recent Journal of East Asian Studies . It's typically advised that at least three months' worth of income should be saved and liquid in case of an emergency or income disruption. It's a rule of thumb Chinese Americans seem to ignore, Rao says, despite the high savings rates found in China. "Less than 50% of Chinese Americans meet the emergency fund ratio guideline, but [they] are also investing more than average," she says. "Chinese Americans tend to have too much exposure in the stock market. In an emergency, stocks and bonds can be quickly sold and liquidated, but when the markets are down, like they are now, it is not wise to sell your stocks because you won't get a good return back on them." Chinese Americans represent the largest group of Asians in the United States, yet relatively little research has been done on them, Yao says. Similar studies have shown a similar, higher risk tolerance among Hispanic families, and less among whites and African Americans. The differences may lie in the difference between collectivism and individualism, cultural traits that persist even after assimilation in American culture. That's among the conclusions presented in research that also focuses on Chinese Americans, by Meir Statman, a professor of finance at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business, and Jessica Weng, director for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nelson Capital Management. They draw upon studies that have "attributed the relatively high investment risk tolerance of the Chinese to the 'cushion' provided by extended families in its collectivistic society." People are more willing to take risk in collectivistic societies than individualistic ones because they know their families will provide for them if they fail. The United States ranks first among countries ranked by individualism, Statman and Weng say. They "do help parents who fall into poverty, but certainly not to the extent that parents are helped in countries such as China, where 'filial loyalty' is expected." A survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Research also shows that money-related attitudes can vary by ethnicity. African Americans and Hispanics were found to have a more positive outlook for the U.S. economy and their own financial situation than whites. The survey also showed that African Americans were more focused on paying off consumer debt than whites and Asians. Asians were more likely than other races and ethnicities to prioritize paying off a mortgage and less likely than others to focus on just covering basic expenses. This post originally appeared at The Street . Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Pension Plans Keep Betting On Hedge Funds

Study Shows Ethnicty May Play A Large Role In How People Invest | View Clip03/22/2011KMAX-TV - Online (press release)

BOSTON ( TheStreet ) -- Ethnicity and cultural background may play a large role in how people invest and save. For instance: A majority of Chinese American households do not save enough of their income, choosing instead to invest the majority of their net worth in the stock market, According to a study by Rui Yao, personal financial planning professor in the University of Missouri's School of Human Environmental Sciences, in a recent Journal of East Asian Studies . It's typically advised that at least three months' worth of income should be saved and liquid in case of an emergency or income disruption. It's a rule of thumb Chinese Americans seem to ignore, Rao says, despite the high savings rates found in China. "Less than 50% of Chinese Americans meet the emergency fund ratio guideline, but [they] are also investing more than average," she says. "Chinese Americans tend to have too much exposure in the stock market. In an emergency, stocks and bonds can be quickly sold and liquidated, but when the markets are down, like they are now, it is not wise to sell your stocks because you won't get a good return back on them." Chinese Americans represent the largest group of Asians in the United States, yet relatively little research has been done on them, Yao says. Similar studies have shown a similar, higher risk tolerance among Hispanic families, and less among whites and African Americans. The differences may lie in the difference between collectivism and individualism, cultural traits that persist even after assimilation in American culture. That's among the conclusions presented in research that also focuses on Chinese Americans, by Meir Statman, a professor of finance at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business, and Jessica Weng, director for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nelson Capital Management. They draw upon studies that have "attributed the relatively high investment risk tolerance of the Chinese to the 'cushion' provided by extended families in its collectivistic society." People are more willing to take risk in collectivistic societies than individualistic ones because they know their families will provide for them if they fail. The United States ranks first among countries ranked by individualism, Statman and Weng say. They "do help parents who fall into poverty, but certainly not to the extent that parents are helped in countries such as China, where 'filial loyalty' is expected." A survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Research also shows that money-related attitudes can vary by ethnicity. African Americans and Hispanics were found to have a more positive outlook for the U.S. economy and their own financial situation than whites. The survey also showed that African Americans were more focused on paying off consumer debt than whites and Asians. Asians were more likely than other races and ethnicities to prioritize paying off a mortgage and less likely than others to focus on just covering basic expenses. This post originally appeared at The Street . Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Pension Plans Keep Betting On Hedge Funds

Trust, fights, and child care. When I'm advising start-up teams nowadays, I ask a lot of questions around those three areas. Which makes it sounds more like a marriage counselor's office, rather than a boardroom, right?

Quite often, the teams I'm talking with think culture is some woo-woo stuff that doesn't make any difference in the end, or even if they think it does matter, they have an excruciatingly hard time describing what theirs is.

Which begs the question: does culture matter?

Culture's all that invisible stuff that glues organizations together, as David Caldwell , my management professor at Santa Clara University, taught me many years ago. It includes things like norms of purpose, values, approach — the stuff that's hard to codify, hard to evaluate, and certainly hard to measure and therefore manage. Many other experts, such as Senge and Kotter have certainly added to that understanding with complex and nuanced constructs, but Caldwell's invisible glue comment holds a truth.

This "invisibility" causes many managers to treat culture as a soft topic, but it's the stuff that determines how we get things done. For example:

Do We Trust Each Other? A team I was recently working with reminded me of 6-year-olds playing soccer, where every team member simply surrounds the issue much like a team of kids surrounds the ball . They then travel en masse, afraid to move away from the proverbial "ball." In this culture, no one owns a position on the field. This "we're all in it together" cultural norm is certainly egalitarian, but it doesn't support specialization, scale, or accountability. I worry that as this team grows, and when they're not all in the same room, they will fail. When they are huddling, what they are signaling is that they don't know how to trust one another to do their unique part. They — like many teams — simply don't know how to "let go" to and with others, thus risking their ability to scale results.

Disagreements Mean What? We all know that we want the best ideas to triumph for the best innovations to take place, but sometimes we act as if that only applies when the idea is our idea. Two members of a team were recently disagreeing vehemently on something. Both had facts that backed up their point of view. Both were fighting for the benefit of the company. Each believed they were "in the right" and wanted the CEO to simply pick the winner, making the losing party wrong and mostly likely, gone. How we handle disagreements and dissent are also part of culture. When teams don't know how to handle disagreement, molehill issues can become do-or-die mountains, or, conversely, passive-aggressiveness insinuates itself as a mechanism to avoid overt disagreements at all costs.

Who Cares About the Baby? A team that is part of a 50,000+ organization recently described an issue where one team does their best right up to a handoff milestone, then relinquishes any part of the project's ultimate success. They described their discomfort with this using a baby analogy. "Will you take care of my [baby] the same way I would, knowing our shared goal is to [get this kid to a good college]?" When the "baby" or in this case, business performance isn't co-owned by everyone, things can easily fall through the cracks . And truth be told, that's where most business problems happen in our high velocity world; between the cracks of divisions or silos or the "white space" no one owns.

How we get things done drives performance. These issues of trust, conflict resolution, and co-ownership are foundational for how a team gets work done. Culture is the set of habits that allows a group of people to cooperate by assumption rather than by negotiation . Based on that definition, culture is not what we say, but what we do without asking. A healthy culture allows us to produce something with each other, not in spite of each other. That is how a group of people generates something much bigger than the sum of the individuals involved. If we only get 2+5+10 = 17, we haven't gotten any benefit of leverage. What we are looking for is 2*5*10 = 100, delivering an explosive return on effort. Culture is the domain that enables or obstructs a velocity of function. By addressing where an organization is limiting its velocity, you can accelerate the engine that fuels innovation and growth, and, ultimately, financial numbers.

Stephen Sadove, chairman and chief executive of Saks, agrees that culture drives numbers: "Culture drives innovation and whatever else you are trying to accomplish within a company — innovation, execution, whatever it's going to be. And that then drives results," he said in a New York Times interview . "When I talk to Wall Street, people really want to know your results, what are your strategies, what are the issues, what it is that you're doing to drive your business. Never do you get people asking about the culture, about leadership, about the people in the organization. Yet it's the reverse, because it's the people, the leadership, and the ideas that are ultimately driving the numbers and the results."

Because we can see the outward manifestations of work performance like products shipped, revenues booked, and earnings-per-share, we can discuss them in analysts calls and at management meetings. We can barely see and surely can't measure the cultural aspect of what makes great products, revenues or earnings per share. But that doesn't mean it can't be decoded.

After working on strategy for 20 years, I can say this: culture will trump strategy, every time. The best strategic idea means nothing in isolation. If the strategy conflicts with how a group of people already believe, behave or make decisions it will fail. Conversely, a culturally robust team can turn a so-so strategy into a winner. The "how" matters in how we get performance. Yes, it does.

Nilofer Merchant is a corporate advisor and speaker on innovation methods. Her book, The New How , discussing collaborative ways to have your whole company strategize, was published in 2010. Follow her on Twitter @nilofer .

We know we should buy low and sell high. So why dont we do it? | View Clip03/22/2011Globe and Mail - Online, The

Theres a story about a financial adviser who has new clients sign a simple one-page form that asks them to check one of two boxes: Box A if you want to Buy Low and Sell High and Box B if you want to Buy High and Sell Low. Everyone asks if hes joking and then reluctantly checks Box A and signs the silly little form.

Invariably, when a market decline occurs down the road, some clients call in asking to sell out of their investments. At this point, the financial adviser faxes over the form and asks them to cross out their answer, check off Box B and then sign and return. Many investors cancel their sell orders after realizing his silly little form was not so silly.

Meir Statman of Santa Clara University is one of the foremost authorities on behavioural finance in the world. His work attempts to gain an understanding of how investment managers and investors themselves make financial decisions and how these decisions affect the financial markets. The jacket of his new book, What Investors Really Want, is littered with praise from a whos who of the investment management world. Hindsight is one cognitive error misleading us into believing that we can forecast what we cannot, Prof. Statman says. Wasnt it clear in 2007 that the stock market would tumble in 2008? Yet what is clear in hindsight is not equally clear in foresight. Is it really clear today whether stock prices will be higher next month or lower? Is it really clear today where the next earthquake will strike? He adds, Confirmation errors compound hindsight errors. We note that radon levels increased before a major earthquake in Italy, confirming our belief that increases in radon levels forecast earthquakes. But we neglect to note the disconfirming evidence of declining radon levels before a major earthquake in California. The same is true for beliefs that particular trading strategies guarantee returns. Ive often said that achieving personal financial success is 90 per cent psychology and 8 per cent math. Ive yet to find someone who sees the humour in the missing 2 per cent as a reminder of the insignificance of the math, but Im sticking to that saying.

It seems to make sense. Investment industry reports often remind us that many retail investors buy high and sell low, when we know we are supposed to buy low and sell high. So why don't we do it?

Industry reports generally take a time period and estimate the rate of return you would have achieved if you had simply left your money in the market. Then they contrast that rate with the actual returns achieved by investors during that time period. The experienced returns are always lower than the potential returns. This is caused by jumping in and out of the market, or switching from fund to fund, at the wrong times.

We tend to get more confident in the market after a few years of strong returns. That means people invest when prices have already run up. We sell after dramatic declines for fear of further losses. That means people sell when prices have already been driven down.

If left to our own devices, I'm convinced investors will continue to make the same mistakes they always make. We spend a lot of time on the 8-per-cent math component, but shoot ourselves in the foot with the 90-per-cent psychology component. Prof. Statman's book, What Investors Really Want, should be required reading not just for investors, but for anyone who deals with money.

Money psychology

Tidbits from Meir Statman's What Investors Really Want

People were offered a higher-paying job in one of two countries. The commute in Country A was shorter by 60 minutes than the commute in Country B. However, one group of people were told that food would cost $5,000 more in Country A than Country B. Another group was told that they would pay $4,000 more in taxes than in Country B. More people chose Country B when presented with a $4,000 tax savings versus a $5,000 food bill savings. This demonstrates that we really hate paying taxes.

When given a gift card, people will tend to spend more than the value of the card. When given a cash gift, people will tend to save some of the cash received. As well, people tend to use gift cards toward luxury items and cash gifts towards more practical, everyday expenditures.

Preet Banerjee is a senior vice-president with Pro-Financial Asset Management. His website is wheredoesallmymoneygo.com.

"Whether you think you can or you think you can't, either way you are right." This is the message quoted from Henry Ford on a poster at a middle school, which drove a 14-year-old-girl to be the woman that she is today. Pauline Victoria was born without arms or legs, but you would not know if you didn't see it for yourself. She is an unstoppable force on a mission to spread a message of hope and there is no one better suited to spread that message.

Victoria came all the way from Hawaii to be a guest speaker at Yuba College on March 15, 2011. As she was preparing to speak, she was assisted with a drink of water, and it really put things in perspective. Here is a woman full of motivation, here to teach others how to persevere, and she can't even get a drink of water on her own. The message in that alone was incredibly powerful. We take so many things for granted and we have so many excuses in our lives.

Victoria has not looked at her life as challenging, but as a pathway of choices. She said, "There are two paths in life, the path of regret and the path of reward." She chose the path of reward and her path has been quite fruitful. Raised by parents who believed in her and that held her to high academic standards, she earned her Bachelor's Degree from Santa Clara University in communication, she fought with the State of California until she got her driver's license, she married the love of her life, helped to raise his children, and birthed a son. With a colleague, she founded Living Beyond Limitations and is pursuing a web show to spread her message even farther. You can find the book that she co-authored with Les Brown, Fight for Your Dreams: The Power of Never Giving Up, due out on shelves in mid-April. She has done work advocating for the disabled and began work as a motivational speaker. She does not like speaking in front of people, but feels so strong about her message that she overcomes those fears to help others.

Some of her other achievements include learning how to swim and having such beautiful penmanship that it would put many others to shame. When she was learning to swim she thought, "Not having the freedom to do so was scarier than drowning." She writes holding a pen between her chin and her shoulder, and she types 35 words per minute using a back scratcher.

Quoting Columbus, "You don't know what is out there until you leave the shore," she explained how life is out there to live. You can watch it go by, or you can live it. "Life is what you put into it, if you do less, then expect less. I didn't want less."

Victoria knows her purpose here on earth is to bring a message of hope and possibility to others. She also believes that it is the purpose of all of us to help one another and to love. "The beautiful thing about this disability is that I get to do this every single day." Just by existing she shows us all how to make it through.

You can check Pauline Victoria out on her web site, http://paulinevictoria.com/.

You can also go to www.livingbeyondlimitations.com and look for her web show coming soon at www.watchpvtv.com.

As consumers manage more of their lives via smartphones and iPads, financial service companies are trying to ensure they don't get lost in the electronic shuffle. "The industry right now is app crazy," says James McGovern, vice-president for consulting services at Corporate Insight, a firm that monitors the ways financial companies communicate with customers.

"We're just going where the customers are," says Christopher Larkin, E*Trade Financial's (ETFC) senior vice-president for active trading. Bank of America's (BAC) online brokerage, Merrill Edge, is even exploring the idea of face-to-face teleconferencing between clients and advisers through the mobile apps it unveiled on Mar. 9, says Alok Prasad, the division's head.

Forrester Research estimates that more than 10 million Americans use mobile banking technology and that the number could rise to 50 million by 2015. Members of Generation X and Y make up about 75 percent of Forrester's current estimate of 10 million. While many of those consumers are comfortable using mobile apps to check their balances, companies need to work themselves more deeply into a mobile customer's financial life or the work that goes into developing all of these mobile apps may wind up being "another cost center," says Gartner (IT) analyst Stessa Cohen.

The "real potential" for mobile personal finance apps may come from linking investments and savings with spending in real time, says Ron Shevlin, senior analyst at the research firm Aite Group. Apps could track consumers' spending and investments while offering "personal finance management" by maintaining budgets and helping consumers "make smart decisions about how to finance a purchase," he says.

Paying With Your Smartphone

To do that, financial outfits have to get in on the front end of spending decisions. Such companies as Bank of America and Wells Fargo have been testing mobile payment systems using smartphones in a small number of cities across the country. Last December, Wells Fargo started a pilot study with 200 employees in San Francisco. After a similar employee study last year, Bank of America on Mar. 28 will launch a mobile payment test with customers in New York, Atlanta, and San Francisco. Just as they would swipe a credit card, shoppers hold phones up to special readers to complete purchases. In addition to offering a convenient way to pay through credit or debit accounts, mobile phones could deliver instant coupons and other promotions to shoppers, says Arah Erickson, head of Wells Fargo's retail mobile banking division.

If closer connections with financial providers make it easier for consumers to see where their money goes, that could be a big positive, says Santa Clara University professor Meir Statman, an expert on behavioral finance and author of the book, What Investors Really Want. Such knowledge "really bolsters their self control" when out shopping, he says. Another outcome could be less positive, though. "People are more likely to trade more if it's made easier," he says. "What we know from studies is the more you trade, the more you are likely to lag behind people who buy and hold investments."

Thus far, 11 percent of investors use their brokerages' mobile offerings and about a quarter of those users trade through mobile platforms, says Forrester. E*Trade says about 3 percent to 4 percent of its trades are placed through mobile devices, and it will soon add trading of futures and mutual funds to its current lineup of stocks and options. TD Ameritrade (AMTD) has seen increased trading activity due to its mobile app, particularly in options trading, says Nicole Sherrod, managing director of TD Ameritrade's trader group. Nevertheless, she adds, the main goal isn't to boost trading immediately but to attract customers and position the firm for future growth. TD Ameritrade will launch its second iPad app in late April, she says, with this one aimed at long-term investors rather than traders.

Forrester analyst Bill Doyle doubts mobile offerings will stimulate much extra trading overall, but he does expect customers to shift holdings to companies with better mobile offerings. "Mobile devices are changing consumer's perceptions of how convenient financial transactions should be," says Wells Fargo's Erickson. "Today, convenience means the PC is across the room, and I don't feel like booting it up."

Sara Phillips, a 20-year-old computer science student from Hawaii at Santa Clara University, just may have the new look of the 21st century. When her 2010 Census form arrived last year, she gazed at the variety of ethnic and racial boxes available to her and selected four: Spanish and Filipino, same as her mother; and Japanese and white from her father's lineage.

"I always mark as many as I can," she said.

Choosing from this racial buffet made her one of about 87,300 people living in Santa Clara County who claimed more than one race, according to the latest results released by the U.S. Census Bureau. That's an increase of about 9,000 from the past decade.

For most of the 20th century, Americans were asked to choose only one of the officially recognized groups: white, black, American Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Korean or "other." Starting with the 2000 national head count, residents could choose two or more. Seven million did. According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the mixed-race population has grown by about 35 percent since then. We won't know the latest count until later this year.

The census bureau tends to blur the lines among race, ethnicity and national origin and doesn't claim that its categories are genetically scientific. For example, Mexican-Americans who wrote down their race as "Mexican" are counted as Hispanic and as members of "some other race." The road to counting mixed-race people didn't happen without bitter debates.

Advocates, including the Berkeley-based Association of Multi Ethnic Americans, started lobbying for the distinction in the late 1960s, arguing in part that the blending of races eventually would transcend racial divisions. Curiously, some odd bedfellows opposed them.

On one side, cultural conservatives said another racial category would Balkanize America and stifle the dream of a colorblind society. On the other, traditional black, Asian and Native American groups feared the new category would dilute their numbers and political clout.

For better or worse, the mixed-race genie is out of the bottle, said professor Matthew Snipp, a sociologist who heads the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University.

"It's going to continue to grow, and how fast is anybody's guess," he said. At the same time, "It's still a relatively small part of the population."

Although he has some Irish blood, Snipp is Native American and marked only that box on his own census form. He said the key issues in the mixed-race question still are alive and meaty.

For example, he said, federal anti-discrimination laws name and protect traditional minority groups, but not multiracial people. The Census Bureau is the only agency that collects such information. When a federal health agency wants to know which racial populations need attention and where, Census Bureau computers assign mixed-race people to one of the traditional racial groups and hands the recoded counts to the agencies.

"The bigger issue is that we still have laws in place to combat discrimination that still exists," he said.

Another Stanford expert on the subject, Michele Elam, sees the mixed-race count as a threat to the black community. Half-white and black, she argues that the vast majority of black Americans and Latinos already have a lot of white blood, but what makes them distinct is their unique social and economic experience as a minority group.

Sharon Ogbor of Campbell agrees. Although she marked her race as black, her deep-bronze skin clearly reveals a mixed heritage. The old Spanish empire, which was fanatical in tracking racial mixing, would have deemed Ogbor, who was born in Panama, a "mulatto" woman.

"I've been asked what I am all my life," she said. "My answer depends on why they are asking."

For example, she will identify herself as black when supporting a health project for African-Americans. For an initiative in a Chicano neighborhood, she'll be a Latina and speak in Spanish. She's comfortable with the racial shape-shifting for now, but wishes it wasn't necessary.

"It's a shame," she said. "Race is real. Racism is very real."

However, the trend of claiming two or more races appears constant and may be accelerating. It also has something powerful going for it -- the cool factor.

"I have a Filipino face, a Caucasian body structure and the long black hair of people from Hawaii," said Phillips, the SCU student. "My looks have been more of a benefit than anything."

A Jesuit campus, Santa Clara University demands that every student understand and oppose racial barriers. As a paid resident assistant, Phillips guides freshmen, some of them from exclusive communities, through the minefield of prejudice that exists even at elite schools. Phillips favors the counting of mixed-race people like herself because they represent the increasing numbers of interracial marriages.

"Technically, they represent all of those cultures," Phillips said. "I'm definitely a go-with-the-flow person when it comes to race. I'm proud of being from lots of different places and representing all of them."

In his new book, “What Investors Really Want,” Meir Statman, professor of finance at the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University, presents a rich pageant of insight that can be used by defined contribution plan executives to understand individual investment motivations.

Subtitled “Discover What Drives Investor Behavior and Make Smarter Financial Decisions,” the book is designed for individuals. But DC plan officials could take advantage of the author's expertise in behavioral finance. Mr. Statman explores investor decisions through such behavioral finance tendencies as cognitive errors, framing errors, representative errors, confirmation errors, hindsight errors — all factors that cloud judgment. His viewpoint is often surprising.

“Herd behavior in investments can be beneficial,” he writes. Other times, investors “are stupid as they join herds.”

“But how can investors tell the difference?” He answers his question by writing: “Good judgment of information is one part of the answer. Good assessment of the consequences of a wrong choice is another.”

Mr. Statman attempts to guide investors to be better, with lots of details and examples of real people, and sourcing with extensive footnotes from anecdotal to academic research.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The de Saisset Museum opens the spring exhibition season with two photography exhibitions that seamlessly blend art and science. Life Cycle, an exhibit of photographs by Susan Middleton, and The Theater of Insects, a thought-provoking series by Jo Whaley, open to the public on April 9 and will be on view through June 12.

Award-winning photographer, former chair of the California Academy of Sciences' Department of Photography, and Santa Clara University alumna Susan Middleton '70 has spent nearly 30 years documenting rare and endangered species, creating compelling portraits of animals that are seldom, if ever, seen by the public. Through this exhibition, which highlights two distinct bodies of work—Evidence of Evolution and Spineless—the artist introduces a suite of alluring creatures that illustrate the remarkable, mind-boggling variety found in our natural world.

Completed in 2009, Evidence of Evolution pictures extinct species from the collections of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. The images, which are at once contemplative and reverential, celebrate the evolutionary development of plants and animals. Middleton's more recent series, Spineless, focuses on marine invertebrates, a number of which are species new to science. The work showcases the extreme diversity of deep sea life and highlights the ways in which marine creatures adapt and change to improve their survival in the ocean.

Working in her characteristic style, Middleton frames the specimens in both series against neutral black or white backgrounds. Through the thoughtful exclusion of environment or habitat, the artist focuses the viewers' attention exclusively on the individual features and characteristics of each animal.

On view simultaneously, Jo Whaley's The Theater of Insects also explores the convergence of art and science. Inspired by old dioramas found in natural history museums, Whaley creates theatrically staged images of exquisitely colored insects against imaginary—almost dreamlike—backgrounds. Her specimens are entomologically accurate, yet they are juxtaposed with backgrounds composed of weathered, man-made materials like rusted metal, broken glass, painted wood, and crumpled paper. The result is a compelling pairing of nature and artifice, science and art.

Together, these exhibitions suggest the need for conservation and preservation. Yet, perhaps more significantly, they inspire a sense of wonderment and fascination with the amazing world in which we live.

Both Life Cycle and The Theater of Insects open to the public on April 9. A free celebratory reception will be held on Friday, April 8 from 7 to 9 p.m. On the following Sunday, April 10 at 2 p.m., Jo Whaley will give an artist talk on The Theater of Insects. Susan Middleton will be present on May 12 at 7 p.m. to speak on the subject of art, science, and biodiversity. She will share a selection of photographs taken over the past 25 years. Both events are free and open to the public. For more information on the de Saisset's exhibitions and programs, visit www.scu.edu/desaisset.

About the de Saisset Museum

The de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University is the South Bay's free museum of art and history. The museum was founded adjacent to the Mission Santa Clara de Asís on the Santa Clara University campus in 1955 and is one of only three museums in the South Bay accredited by the American Association of Museums. The de Saisset Museum collects, preserves, exhibits, and interprets objects of art and history for the educational and cultural enrichment of all people. The museum achieves its mission through an active program of exhibitions, collections, education programs, and publications.

About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University is a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California's Silicon Valley. Santa Clara offers its more than 8,800 students rigorous undergraduate programs in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master's degrees in a number of professional fields, law degrees, and engineering and theology doctorates. Distinguished by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master's universities, Santa Clara educates leaders of competence, conscience, and compassion grounded in faith-inspired values. Founded in 1851, Santa Clara is California's oldest operating institution of higher education. For more information, see www.scu.edu.

Portrait of Sara Phillips at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, on Tuesday, March 15, 2011. (Josie Lepe/Mercury News)

Who are you? What are you?

Sara Phillips, a 20-year-old computer science student from Hawaii at Santa Clara University, just may have the new look of the 21st century. When her 2010 Census form arrived last year, she gazed at the variety of ethnic and racial boxes available to her and selected four: Spanish and Filipino, same as her mother; and Japanese and white from her father's lineage.

"I always mark as many as I can," she said.

Choosing from this racial buffet made her one of about 87,300 people living in Santa Clara County who claimed more than one race, according to the latest results released by the U.S. Census Bureau. That's an increase of about 9,000 from the past decade.

For most of the 20th century, Americans were asked to choose only one of the officially recognized groups: white, black, American Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Korean or "other." Starting with the 2000 national head count, residents could choose two or more. Seven million did. According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the mixed-race population has grown by about 35 percent since then. We won't know the latest count until later this year.

The census bureau tends to blur the lines among race, ethnicity and national origin and doesn't claim that its categories are genetically scientific. For example, Mexican-Americans who wrote down their race as "Mexican" are counted as Hispanic and as members of "some other race."

The road

to counting mixed-race people didn't happen without bitter debates.

Advocates, including the Berkeley-based Association of Multi Ethnic Americans, started lobbying for the distinction in the late 1960s, arguing in part that the blending of races eventually would transcend racial divisions. Curiously, some odd bedfellows opposed them.

On one side, cultural conservatives said another racial category would Balkanize America and stifle the dream of a colorblind society. On the other, traditional black, Asian and Native American groups feared the new category would dilute their numbers and political clout.

For better or worse, the mixed-race genie is out of the bottle, said professor Matthew Snipp, a sociologist who heads the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University.

"It's going to continue to grow, and how fast is anybody's guess," he said. At the same time, "It's still a relatively small part of the population."

Although he has some Irish blood, Snipp is Native American and marked only that box on his own census form. He said the key issues in the mixed-race question still are alive and meaty.

For example, he said, federal anti-discrimination laws name and protect traditional minority groups, but not multiracial people. The Census Bureau is the only agency that collects such information. When a federal health agency wants to know which racial populations need attention and where, Census Bureau computers assign mixed-race people to one of the traditional racial groups and hands the recoded counts to the agencies.

"The bigger issue is that we still have laws in place to combat discrimination that still exists," he said.

Another Stanford expert on the subject, Michele Elam, sees the mixed-race count as a threat to the black community. Half-white and black, she argues that the vast majority of black Americans and Latinos already have a lot of white blood, but what makes them distinct is their unique social and economic experience as a minority group.

Sharon Ogbor of Campbell agrees. Although she marked her race as black, her deep-bronze skin clearly reveals a mixed heritage. The old Spanish empire, which was fanatical in tracking racial mixing, would have deemed Ogbor, who was born in Panama, a "mulatto" woman.

"I've been asked what I am all my life," she said. "My answer depends on why they are asking."

For example, she will identify herself as black when supporting a health project for African-Americans. For an initiative in a Chicano neighborhood, she'll be a Latina and speak in Spanish. She's comfortable with the racial shape-shifting for now, but wishes it wasn't necessary.

"It's a shame," she said. "Race is real. Racism is very real."

However, the trend of claiming two or more races appears constant and may be accelerating. It also has something powerful going for it -- the cool factor.

"I have a Filipino face, a Caucasian body structure and the long black hair of people from Hawaii," said Phillips, the SCU student. "My looks have been more of a benefit than anything."

A Jesuit campus, Santa Clara University demands that every student understand and oppose racial barriers. As a paid resident assistant, Phillips guides freshmen, some of them from exclusive communities, through the minefield of prejudice that exists even at elite schools. Phillips favors the counting of mixed-race people like herself because they represent the increasing numbers of interracial marriages.

"Technically, they represent all of those cultures," Phillips said. "I'm definitely a go-with-the-flow person when it comes to race. I'm proud of being from lots of different places and representing all of them."

Portrait of Sara Phillips at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, on Tuesday, March 15, 2011. (Josie Lepe/Mercury News)

Who are you? What are you?

Sara Phillips, a 20-year-old computer science student from Hawaii at Santa Clara University, just may have the new look of the 21st century. When her 2010 Census form arrived last year, she gazed at the variety of ethnic and racial boxes available to her and selected four: Spanish and Filipino, same as her mother; and Japanese and white from her father's lineage.

"I always mark as many as I can," she said.

Choosing from this racial buffet made her one of about 87,300 people living in Santa Clara County who claimed more than one race, according to the latest results released by the U.S. Census Bureau. That's an increase of about 9,000 from the past decade.

For most of the 20th century, Americans were asked to choose only one of the officially recognized groups: white, black, American Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Korean or "other." Starting with the 2000 national head count, residents could choose two or more. Seven million did. According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the mixed-race population has grown by about 35 percent since then. We won't know the latest count until later this year.

The census bureau tends to blur the lines among race, ethnicity and national origin and doesn't claim that its categories are genetically scientific. For example, Mexican-Americans who wrote down their race as "Mexican" are counted as Hispanic and as members of "some other race."

The road

to counting mixed-race people didn't happen without bitter debates.

Advocates, including the Berkeley-based Association of Multi Ethnic Americans, started lobbying for the distinction in the late 1960s, arguing in part that the blending of races eventually would transcend racial divisions. Curiously, some odd bedfellows opposed them.

On one side, cultural conservatives said another racial category would Balkanize America and stifle the dream of a colorblind society. On the other, traditional black, Asian and Native American groups feared the new category would dilute their numbers and political clout.

For better or worse, the mixed-race genie is out of the bottle, said professor Matthew Snipp, a sociologist who heads the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University.

"It's going to continue to grow, and how fast is anybody's guess," he said. At the same time, "It's still a relatively small part of the population."

Although he has some Irish blood, Snipp is Native American and marked only that box on his own census form. He said the key issues in the mixed-race question still are alive and meaty.

For example, he said, federal anti-discrimination laws name and protect traditional minority groups, but not multiracial people. The Census Bureau is the only agency that collects such information. When a federal health agency wants to know which racial populations need attention and where, Census Bureau computers assign mixed-race people to one of the traditional racial groups and hands the recoded counts to the agencies.

"The bigger issue is that we still have laws in place to combat discrimination that still exists," he said.

Another Stanford expert on the subject, Michele Elam, sees the mixed-race count as a threat to the black community. Half-white and black, she argues that the vast majority of black Americans and Latinos already have a lot of white blood, but what makes them distinct is their unique social and economic experience as a minority group.

Sharon Ogbor of Campbell agrees. Although she marked her race as black, her deep-bronze skin clearly reveals a mixed heritage. The old Spanish empire, which was fanatical in tracking racial mixing, would have deemed Ogbor, who was born in Panama, a "mulatto" woman.

"I've been asked what I am all my life," she said. "My answer depends on why they are asking."

For example, she will identify herself as black when supporting a health project for African-Americans. For an initiative in a Chicano neighborhood, she'll be a Latina and speak in Spanish. She's comfortable with the racial shape-shifting for now, but wishes it wasn't necessary.

"It's a shame," she said. "Race is real. Racism is very real."

However, the trend of claiming two or more races appears constant and may be accelerating. It also has something powerful going for it -- the cool factor.

"I have a Filipino face, a Caucasian body structure and the long black hair of people from Hawaii," said Phillips, the SCU student. "My looks have been more of a benefit than anything."

A Jesuit campus, Santa Clara University demands that every student understand and oppose racial barriers. As a paid resident assistant, Phillips guides freshmen, some of them from exclusive communities, through the minefield of prejudice that exists even at elite schools. Phillips favors the counting of mixed-race people like herself because they represent the increasing numbers of interracial marriages.

"Technically, they represent all of those cultures," Phillips said. "I'm definitely a go-with-the-flow person when it comes to race. I'm proud of being from lots of different places and representing all of them."

Portrait of Sara Phillips at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, on Tuesday, March 15, 2011. (Josie Lepe/Mercury News)

Who are you? What are you?

Sara Phillips, a 20-year-old computer science student from Hawaii at Santa Clara University, just may have the new look of the 21st century. When her 2010 Census form arrived last year, she gazed at the variety of ethnic and racial boxes available to her and selected four: Spanish and Filipino, same as her mother; and Japanese and white from her father's lineage.

"I always mark as many as I can," she said.

Choosing from this racial buffet made her one of about 87,300 people living in Santa Clara County who claimed more than one race, according to the latest results released by the U.S. Census Bureau. That's an increase of about 9,000 from the past decade.

For most of the 20th century, Americans were asked to choose only one of the officially recognized groups: white, black, American Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Korean or "other." Starting with the 2000 national head count, residents could choose two or more. Seven million did. According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the mixed-race population has grown by about 35 percent since then. We won't know the latest count until later this year.

The census bureau tends to blur the lines among race, ethnicity and national origin and doesn't claim that its categories are genetically scientific. For example, Mexican-Americans who wrote down their race as "Mexican" are counted as Hispanic and as members of "some other race."

The road

to counting mixed-race people didn't happen without bitter debates.

Advocates, including the Berkeley-based Association of Multi Ethnic Americans, started lobbying for the distinction in the late 1960s, arguing in part that the blending of races eventually would transcend racial divisions. Curiously, some odd bedfellows opposed them.

On one side, cultural conservatives said another racial category would Balkanize America and stifle the dream of a colorblind society. On the other, traditional black, Asian and Native American groups feared the new category would dilute their numbers and political clout.

For better or worse, the mixed-race genie is out of the bottle, said professor Matthew Snipp, a sociologist who heads the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University.

"It's going to continue to grow, and how fast is anybody's guess," he said. At the same time, "It's still a relatively small part of the population."

Although he has some Irish blood, Snipp is Native American and marked only that box on his own census form. He said the key issues in the mixed-race question still are alive and meaty.

For example, he said, federal anti-discrimination laws name and protect traditional minority groups, but not multiracial people. The Census Bureau is the only agency that collects such information. When a federal health agency wants to know which racial populations need attention and where, Census Bureau computers assign mixed-race people to one of the traditional racial groups and hands the recoded counts to the agencies.

"The bigger issue is that we still have laws in place to combat discrimination that still exists," he said.

Another Stanford expert on the subject, Michele Elam, sees the mixed-race count as a threat to the black community. Half-white and black, she argues that the vast majority of black Americans and Latinos already have a lot of white blood, but what makes them distinct is their unique social and economic experience as a minority group.

Sharon Ogbor of Campbell agrees. Although she marked her race as black, her deep-bronze skin clearly reveals a mixed heritage. The old Spanish empire, which was fanatical in tracking racial mixing, would have deemed Ogbor, who was born in Panama, a "mulatto" woman.

"I've been asked what I am all my life," she said. "My answer depends on why they are asking."

For example, she will identify herself as black when supporting a health project for African-Americans. For an initiative in a Chicano neighborhood, she'll be a Latina and speak in Spanish. She's comfortable with the racial shape-shifting for now, but wishes it wasn't necessary.

"It's a shame," she said. "Race is real. Racism is very real."

However, the trend of claiming two or more races appears constant and may be accelerating. It also has something powerful going for it -- the cool factor.

"I have a Filipino face, a Caucasian body structure and the long black hair of people from Hawaii," said Phillips, the SCU student. "My looks have been more of a benefit than anything."

A Jesuit campus, Santa Clara University demands that every student understand and oppose racial barriers. As a paid resident assistant, Phillips guides freshmen, some of them from exclusive communities, through the minefield of prejudice that exists even at elite schools. Phillips favors the counting of mixed-race people like herself because they represent the increasing numbers of interracial marriages.

"Technically, they represent all of those cultures," Phillips said. "I'm definitely a go-with-the-flow person when it comes to race. I'm proud of being from lots of different places and representing all of them."

USF is preparing itself for a familiar foe as the Dons get ready to host Santa Clara University on Tuesday after overcoming a seven-point deficit with 82 seconds left in their 77-74 triumph against Hawaii on Saturday night at the Stan Sheriff Center in the second round of the 2011 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

With USF (19-14) trailing by three, freshman guard Cody Doolin made back-to-back slashing lay-ups to give the the Dons their first lead since a 2-0 advantage in the opening minute. Junior guard Rashad Green iced the game with a pair of free throws after a Hawaii (19-13) turnover.

Now the Dons must get ready for Santa Clara, who beat Air Force 88-75 Friday night. USF swept the regular season series against the Broncos. It will be the first postseason contest between the two clubs.

Texas Tech: The university hired Billy Gillispie as the new men's basketball coach, two seasons after he was fired at Kentucky.

Gillispie will be introduced Wednesday at a news conference, school athletics spokesman Blayne Beal said Sunday. Gillispie replaces Pat Knight, who was fired this month.

In 2009, Kentucky fired Gillispie after the Wildcats went 40-27 in his two seasons and missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in 17 years.

He agreed to a five-year contract, according to a statement released by the school.

Tennessee:

Nearly 100 fans gathered at a rally near the Volunteers' Thompson-Boling Arena to show their support for Bruce Pearl, who is waiting to learn his fate as men's basketball coach.

Tennessee athletics director Mike Hamilton said Wednesday that Pearl would be evaluated after the Vols' season ended. Tennessee lost 75-45 to Michigan in its opener at the NCAA tournament Friday.

The NCAA charged Pearl with unethical conduct and other recruiting violations after he revealed he lied during an investigation into recruiting.

Butler: School officials say Blue II, the Bulldogs' mascot, will not travel to New Orleans, where the men's basketball team faces fourth-seeded Wisconsin in Thursday's regional semifinals. NCAA officials banned live mascots from this weekend's games. The NCAA says it may give Blue II, an English bulldog, an exemption if Butler makes it back to the Final Four in Houston.

USF is preparing itself for a familiar foe as the Dons get ready to host Santa Clara University on Tuesday after overcoming a seven-point deficit with 82 seconds left in their 77-74 triumph against Hawaii on Saturday night at the Stan Sheriff Center in the second round of the 2011 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

With USF (19-14) trailing by three, freshman guard Cody Doolin made back-to-back slashing lay-ups to give the the Dons their first lead since a 2-0 advantage in the opening minute. Junior guard Rashad Green iced the game with a pair of free throws after a Hawaii (19-13) turnover.

Now the Dons must get ready for Santa Clara, who beat Air Force 88-75 Friday night. USF swept the regular season series against the Broncos. It will be the first postseason contest between the two clubs.

Texas Tech: The university hired Billy Gillispie as the new men's basketball coach, two seasons after he was fired at Kentucky.

Gillispie will be introduced Wednesday at a news conference, school athletics spokesman Blayne Beal said Sunday. Gillispie replaces Pat Knight, who was fired this month.

In 2009, Kentucky fired Gillispie after the Wildcats went 40-27 in his two seasons and missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in 17 years.

He agreed to a five-year contract, according to a statement released by the school. Tennessee: Nearly 100 fans gathered at a rally near the Volunteers' Thompson-Boling Arena to show their support for Bruce Pearl, who is waiting to learn his fate as men's basketball coach.

Tennessee athletics director Mike Hamilton said Wednesday that Pearl would be evaluated after the Vols' season ended. Tennessee lost 75-45 to Michigan in its opener at the NCAA tournament Friday.

The NCAA charged Pearl with unethical conduct and other recruiting violations after he revealed he lied during an investigation into recruiting.

Butler: School officials say Blue II, the Bulldogs' mascot, will not travel to New Orleans, where the men's basketball team faces fourth-seeded Wisconsin in Thursday's regional semifinals. NCAA officials banned live mascots from this weekend's games. The NCAA says it may give Blue II, an English bulldog, an exemption if Butler makes it back to the Final Four in Houston.

USF is preparing itself for a familiar foe as the Dons get ready to host Santa Clara University on Tuesday after overcoming a seven-point deficit with 82 seconds left in their 77-74 triumph against Hawaii on Saturday night at the Stan Sheriff Center in the second round of the 2011 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

With USF (19-14) trailing by three, freshman guard Cody Doolin made back-to-back slashing lay-ups to give the the Dons their first lead since a 2-0 advantage in the opening minute. Junior guard Rashad Green iced the game with a pair of free throws after a Hawaii (19-13) turnover.

Now the Dons must get ready for Santa Clara, who beat Air Force 88-75 Friday night. USF swept the regular season series against the Broncos. It will be the first postseason contest between the two clubs.

Texas Tech: The university hired Billy Gillispie as the new men's basketball coach, two seasons after he was fired at Kentucky.

Gillispie will be introduced Wednesday at a news conference, school athletics spokesman Blayne Beal said Sunday. Gillispie replaces Pat Knight, who was fired this month.

In 2009, Kentucky fired Gillispie after the Wildcats went 40-27 in his two seasons and missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in 17 years.

He agreed to a five-year contract, according to a statement released by the school.

Tennessee:

Nearly 100 fans gathered at a rally near the Volunteers' Thompson-Boling Arena to show their support for Bruce Pearl, who is waiting to learn his fate as men's basketball coach.

Tennessee athletics director Mike Hamilton said Wednesday that Pearl would be evaluated after the Vols' season ended. Tennessee lost 75-45 to Michigan in its opener at the NCAA tournament Friday.

The NCAA charged Pearl with unethical conduct and other recruiting violations after he revealed he lied during an investigation into recruiting.

Butler: School officials say Blue II, the Bulldogs' mascot, will not travel to New Orleans, where the men's basketball team faces fourth-seeded Wisconsin in Thursday's regional semifinals. NCAA officials banned live mascots from this weekend's games. The NCAA says it may give Blue II, an English bulldog, an exemption if Butler makes it back to the Final Four in Houston.

Eric Goldman is an associate professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law and director of the school's High Tech Law Institute. He was previously general counsel at Epinions.com in Brisbane. He has studied the issue of search engine bias, producing several academic papers on the topic, and said he sees no persuasive evidence that Google has acted unfairly.

(Goldman discloses that he earns a "meager" amount of money as an online publisher through Google's AdSense product, and that he co-authored an amicus brief in support of Google's legal position in a search advertising case. He has not acted as a paid attorney, consultant or expert for Google, and has been critical of the company's practices in other areas.)

Q: Search bias has emerged as a central issue in Google antitrust inquiries. What's your take on these allegations, based on your research?

A: There's no question that every company would like to be first on Google for every search result, so by definition, anytime companies don't get their preferred placement they're unhappy about it.

We've seen a number of complaints from purported competitors who say "we should have been higher than we were." That assumes there is a right number for their ranking that Google didn't reach. I don't find that credible.

There's always going to be bias in data sets. The only question is what animated that bias. With Google, I haven't seen any evidence that its bias reflects competitive malice.

When I evaluate the various studies on this issue, I always say, "Show me the problem." Google is biased, but show me how that's a problem. Be specific.

Q: A separate issue has emerged in recent years, as search engines like Google and Bing increasingly insert things like maps, videos and direct answers above or prominently within their results. These are forms of content that sometimes compete with organic search results. Does this pose a potential conflict of interest for companies that are primarily acting as online intermediaries?

A: You've defined away your problem when you call them "intermediaries." One way of defining Google's algorithmic search is to say: It's supposed to get people somewhere else as fast as possible. Another is: It's designed to answer people's questions. The quicker they answer those questions, the better off we are. I think we're struggling with which characterization is more accurate.

Google is a media property and, like all media properties, there are various ways of moving users across its services through cross-promotion, house ads and other things that The San Francisco Chronicle and other media properties do too. There's nothing inherently wrong with its cross-promotion, unless the company has such dominance in one area that it can improve its competitive posture in these ancillary services. And we have difficulty putting the dots together to show Google has done that.

As a prime example of that, we've seen a number of Google services that have not been very successful in the marketplace. So Google merely turning the spotlight on its other services doesn't guarantee its victory.

Q: For some of those services, Google pulls content from third-party sites, like business reviews. Even if there's not an antitrust issue there, is there a potential fair use problem, insofar as it can undermine the economic value when users don't click through to the original source?

A: We've seen a number of content providers express concerns about Google capturing and republishing their content. We've seen that with the newspaper industry, of course, and with other online intermediaries, like Yelp and TripAdvisor.

There may be intellectual property considerations there, but there can also be antitrust issues: that Google is using its dominant position to squeeze off people in implicit competition with it.

But from my perspective, the marketplace is going to sort through that. Google and the other online intermediaries are going to reach an accommodation. One option is that these sites could just pull out of Google's index. At some point, if enough indexed sites make that choice, the search engine isn't as valuable to users anymore.

Q: Some have said Google should be regulated like a utility to ensure it acts in a fair and impartial way. You argue that's a dangerous road to go down. Why?

A: We've seen how quickly Internet winners turn into Internet losers. Just think about the companies we feared the most in the late 1990s, like Microsoft and AOL. Think about their competitive position today, and it's clear that our fears were overblown about their ability to control the markets in perpetuity.

Similarly, Google, despite its strong position in search, is competing in an environment that continues to evolve extremely rapidly. We may look back 10 years from now and say, "Wow, Google is no longer the cat's meow."

In my most recent article on search bias, I mention Facebook and Twitter as examples of competitive substitutes for search. They're not direct substitutes for Google, and they may even be complements in some ways, but we weren't even talking about Facebook and Twitter as Google substitutes five years ago. We couldn't conceive of how their services could be seen as competitive at that point.

Q: You write that the free market is a sufficient counterforce to any possible abuse of search power, because consumers will stop using a service that doesn't give them what they want. But people don't know the services or information they're not getting, if they're not getting them in the first place. So are there some limitations on the degree to which the free market can act as a check here?

A: So long as there are options for consumers that are easily explored, consumers have significant incentives to look at those options and compare the results they get. If there were not competitive options at all, if they had no way of figuring out what they don't know, then I might have greater concerns.

Microsoft may be Google's only real competitor, but they're still contesting this space aggressively. Google has made a bunch of recent improvements to its search engine, whether in response to Microsoft or on its own initiative. So we have signs of a very vibrant, competitive market, even if there are only a small number of competitors.

Sara Phillips, a 20-year-old computer science student from Hawaii at Santa Clara University, just may have the new look of the 21st century. When her 2010 Census form arrived last year, she gazed at the variety of ethnic and racial boxes available to her and selected four: Spanish and Filipino, same as her mother; and Japanese and white from her father's lineage.

"I always mark as many as I can," she said.

Choosing from this racial buffet made her one of about 87,300 people living in Santa Clara County who claimed more than one race, according to the latest results released by the U.S. Census Bureau. That's an increase of about 9,000 from the past decade.

For most of the 20th century, Americans were asked to choose only one of the officially recognized groups: white, black, American Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Korean or "other." Starting with the 2000 national head count, residents could choose two or more. Seven million did. According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the mixed-race population has grown by about 35 percent since then. We won't know the latest count until later this year.

The census bureau tends to blur the lines among race, ethnicity and national origin and doesn't claim that its categories are genetically scientific. For example, Mexican-Americans who wrote down their race as "Mexican" are counted as Hispanic and as members of "some other race." The road to counting mixed-race people didn't happen without bitter debates.

Advocates, including the Berkeley-based Association of Multi Ethnic Americans, started lobbying for the distinction in the late 1960s, arguing in part that the blending of races eventually would transcend racial divisions. Curiously, some odd bedfellows opposed them.

On one side, cultural conservatives said another racial category would Balkanize America and stifle the dream of a colorblind society. On the other, traditional black, Asian and Native American groups feared the new category would dilute their numbers and political clout.

For better or worse, the mixed-race genie is out of the bottle, said professor Matthew Snipp, a sociologist who heads the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University.

"It's going to continue to grow, and how fast is anybody's guess," he said. At the same time, "It's still a relatively small part of the population."

Although he has some Irish blood, Snipp is Native American and marked only that box on his own census form. He said the key issues in the mixed-race question still are alive and meaty.

For example, he said, federal anti-discrimination laws name and protect traditional minority groups, but not multiracial people. The Census Bureau is the only agency that collects such information. When a federal health agency wants to know which racial populations need attention and where, Census Bureau computers assign mixed-race people to one of the traditional racial groups and hands the recoded counts to the agencies.

"The bigger issue is that we still have laws in place to combat discrimination that still exists," he said.

Another Stanford expert on the subject, Michele Elam, sees the mixed-race count as a threat to the black community. Half-white and black, she argues that the vast majority of black Americans and Latinos already have a lot of white blood, but what makes them distinct is their unique social and economic experience as a minority group.

Sharon Ogbor of Campbell agrees. Although she marked her race as black, her deep-bronze skin clearly reveals a mixed heritage. The old Spanish empire, which was fanatical in tracking racial mixing, would have deemed Ogbor, who was born in Panama, a "mulatto" woman.

"I've been asked what I am all my life," she said. "My answer depends on why they are asking."

For example, she will identify herself as black when supporting a health project for African-Americans. For an initiative in a Chicano neighborhood, she'll be a Latina and speak in Spanish. She's comfortable with the racial shape-shifting for now, but wishes it wasn't necessary.

"It's a shame," she said. "Race is real. Racism is very real."

However, the trend of claiming two or more races appears constant and may be accelerating. It also has something powerful going for it -- the cool factor.

"I have a Filipino face, a Caucasian body structure and the long black hair of people from Hawaii," said Phillips, the SCU student. "My looks have been more of a benefit than anything."

A Jesuit campus, Santa Clara University demands that every student understand and oppose racial barriers. As a paid resident assistant, Phillips guides freshmen, some of them from exclusive communities, through the minefield of prejudice that exists even at elite schools. Phillips favors the counting of mixed-race people like herself because they represent the increasing numbers of interracial marriages.

"Technically, they represent all of those cultures," Phillips said. "I'm definitely a go-with-the-flow person when it comes to race. I'm proud of being from lots of different places and representing all of them."

The de Saisset Museum opens the spring exhibition season with two photography exhibitions that seamlessly blend art and science. Life Cycle, an exhibit of photographs by Susan Middleton, and The Theater of Insects, a thought-provoking series by Jo Whaley, open to the public on April 9 and will be on view through June 12.

Award-winning photographer, former chair of the California Academy of Sciences' Department of Photography, and Santa Clara University alumna Susan Middleton '70 has spent nearly 30 years documenting rare and endangered species, creating compelling portraits of animals that are seldom, if ever, seen by the public. Through this exhibition, which highlights two distinct bodies of work—Evidence of Evolution and Spineless—the artist introduces a suite of alluring creatures that illustrate the remarkable, mind-boggling variety found in our natural world.

Completed in 2009, Evidence of Evolution pictures extinct species from the collections of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. The images, which are at once contemplative and reverential, celebrate the evolutionary development of plants and animals. Middleton's more recent series, Spineless, focuses on marine invertebrates, a number of which are species new to science. The work showcases the extreme diversity of deep sea life and highlights the ways in which marine creatures adapt and change to improve their survival in the ocean.

Working in her characteristic style, Middleton frames the specimens in both series against neutral black or white backgrounds. Through the thoughtful exclusion of environment or habitat, the artist focuses the viewers' attention exclusively on the individual features and characteristics of each animal.

On view simultaneously, Jo Whaley's The Theater of Insects also explores the convergence of art and science. Inspired by old dioramas found in natural history museums, Whaley creates theatrically staged images of exquisitely colored insects against imaginary—almost dreamlike—backgrounds. Her specimens are entomologically accurate, yet they are juxtaposed with backgrounds composed of weathered, man-made materials like rusted metal, broken glass, painted wood, and crumpled paper. The result is a compelling pairing of nature and artifice, science and art.

Together, these exhibitions suggest the need for conservation and preservation. Yet, perhaps more significantly, they inspire a sense of wonderment and fascination with the amazing world in which we live.

Both Life Cycle and The Theater of Insects open to the public on April 9. A free celebratory reception will be held on Friday, April 8 from 7 to 9 p.m. On the following Sunday, April 10 at 2 p.m., Jo Whaley will give an artist talk on The Theater of Insects. Susan Middleton will be present on May 12 at 7 p.m. to speak on the subject of art, science, and biodiversity. She will share a selection of photographs taken over the past 25 years. Both events are free and open to the public. For more information on the de Saisset's exhibitions and programs, visit www.scu.edu/desaisset.

About the de Saisset Museum

The de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University is the South Bay's free museum of art and history. The museum was founded adjacent to the Mission Santa Clara de Asís on the Santa Clara University campus in 1955 and is one of only three museums in the South Bay accredited by the American Association of Museums. The de Saisset Museum collects, preserves, exhibits, and interprets objects of art and history for the educational and cultural enrichment of all people. The museum achieves its mission through an active program of exhibitions, collections, education programs, and publications.

About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University is a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California's Silicon Valley. Santa Clara offers its more than 8,800 students rigorous undergraduate programs in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master's degrees in a number of professional fields, law degrees, and engineering and theology doctorates. Distinguished by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master's universities, Santa Clara educates leaders of competence, conscience, and compassion grounded in faith-inspired values. Founded in 1851, Santa Clara is California's oldest operating institution of higher education. For more information, see www.scu.edu.

High-speed rail is essential to future of U.S. economy | View Clip03/21/2011Centre Daily Times - Online

Would high-speed rail spending add jobs in the United States? Of course.

Even if some of the rolling stock for the trains were imported, structures and other permanent way would still have to be built in the United States. Under current conditions, any government spending  for rails, for bridges, for highways, for the military  would contribute to job creation.

Fears that government spending might displace or crowd out private sector capital formation would be justified were we at or close to capacity. But we are not.

The unemployment rate remains almost 10 percent, and this doesnt account for those who, discouraged, have simply left the workforce.

Even more telling is the ratio of employment to population, which has fallen from its all-time high of more than 64 percent in 1999 to 58 percent today. In spite of large supply side tax cuts tilted toward the wealthy, the record of the George W. Bush presidency on job creation was in fact quite poor.

For a variety of reasons, including the recent financial crisis, the U.S. economy remains in a serious slump. High-speed rail spending could stimulate job growth and help jump-start the economy.

These projects would, of course, add to the deficit and concerns about its long-term growth, particularly that attributable to health care, are merited.

Looking back over the last three decades, however, Republicans interests in deficit reduction seems to have waxed and waned depending upon who occupied the White House.

The deficit ballooned under Bush, due largely to tax cuts but also to increases in military spending and a new unfunded prescription drug benefit. The resulting run-up in the debt was regrettable, but the time to cut government spending is when the economy is strong, not when it is weak.

If the country is going to incur new debt, it is better to do so to acquire well-chosen infrastructure and equipment than to fund consumption.

Would high-speed rail represent well-chosen infrastructure? In other words, would it help the U.S. win the future?

This is a more complex question. It requires us to consider not simply whether such projects would help close the output gap, but whether and how effectively they would expand the potential output of the economy.

Here there are legitimate concerns about whether the U.S. has enough high density corridors  such as that between Boston and Washington  to yield large benefits.

And building in dense areas can be costly. For example, the proposed Los Angeles to San Francisco route would go right through my backyard in Palo Alto, Calif., and the extent to which that part of the route will or will not be put underground has become a contentious political issue.

That said, state and federal governments have a long and largely successful record of supporting infrastructure development, from the Erie Canal to regional and transcontinental railroads to the Interstate Highway System and, more recently, to the Internet.

The build-out of the surface road network during the Great Depression generated large private sector benefits, contributing to very fast productivity growth in transportation  railroads and trucking  as well as in wholesale and retail distribution.

High-speed rail projects could certainly create jobs and stimulate the economy in the short run. Whether they would generate benefits similar to those of other government funded infrastructure projects is uncertain. History suggests, however, that theres a good chance they would.

Meditation can have big health benefits. Sitting alone in a quiet room might give you more than a peaceful moment to yourself. That pause in your day could also help you reduce stress, ease anxiety, lower blood pressure, improve immune function or lift your mood. Such health changes may be possible through meditation, a centuries-old spiritual practice that's gaining attention in the 21st century for tangible, not mystical, reasons.

Although science and spirit seem unlikely partners, Western medicine is increasingly considering the benefits of using meditation in conjunction with traditional drugs or other therapies to heal modern woes.

"A lot of hospitals have programs now as a complementary treatment for conditions," says researcher Kimberly Williams, PhD, assistant professor in community medicine at West Virginia University in Morgantown. Studies have found positive results for meditation's use to support treatment for both physical and psychological ills, she adds.

Yet meditation is no quick fix. It takes time to develop the technique, and you have to practice regularly.

What's more, there are different types of meditation. All share certain traits, such as taking a comfortable position, focusing attention and ignoring distractions. Among the various meditation approaches, the practice known as mindfulness meditation&mdashsometimes simply called "mindfulness"&mdashhas emerged as the method gaining the most notice for helping to improve health.

Achieving mindfulness

When we think of meditation, many of us still envision people meditating while repetitively murmuring a word like "om." This mantra, or specific focus, is at the core of concentration meditations. In these modes, distractions are mentally pushed away.

In mindfulness, or insight meditation, meditators focus awareness on their present experience without judging or ignoring distractions. They note their breathing and physical sensations as well as random sounds, feelings and thoughts. "You just watch what arises...stay with it as long as it is there and let it go," Dr. Williams says. "The meditator can watch and keep that witnessing perspective."

Science doesn't yet know why this may provide health benefits, but it could be by creating changes in the nervous system and brain. By slowing down and taking a nonjudgmental view of your thoughts and feelings, proponents say, you become more aware and open, creating greater balance. Mindfulness builds your inner resources, allowing you to be calmer and more insightful when facing stress or difficulties.

In an eight-week mindfulness meditation training study conducted by Dr. Williams and her colleagues, participants who completed the course reported a 44 percent reduction in psychological distress and a 46 percent lowering of medical symptoms.

"Mindfulness helps you be more present with your life, so you can make conscious choices and engage in all of your experiences in a more meaningful way," says Shauna L. Shapiro, PhD, assistant professor of counseling psychology at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, CA. "You're training your mind to be more present."

That sounds easier to do than it is, which is why it's helpful to learn mindfulness meditation from a teacher or counselor. But does using mindfulness to achieve a less-stressed life mean you have to change your religious beliefs? "It's not about adopting any doctrine," Dr. Williams says. "It's about learning the practice, having the experience."

Getting started

Developing a mindful approach through meditation often means fighting yourself. For mindfulness meditation to be effective, you need to take time out from your day's activities, unhook from the steady stream of technological interruptions and recognize that being great at multi-tasking in your personal and work life isn't necessarily wonderful for you all the time.

To begin mindfulness meditation, try these steps:

State your purpose. Ask yourself why you want to practice mindfulness. Many people have a clear idea&mdashthey want to improve their sleep, lower stress, or solve a relationship issue. As you continue practicing, your intention may evolve, extending the mindful approach to other aspects of your life.

Make a commitment, even a small one. Decide to give over 20 minutes each day for the next two months to practicing mindfulness meditation. "I ask people to see it as an experiment, not to be evaluating it every day as you go along," Dr. Shapiro says. "At the end of two months, you tell me if it was helpful. And, if not, let's find something else."

Dr. Williams believes you can start with as little as five minutes, so long as you meditate at the same time every day. "Can you sit still and be aware of your breathing? Try not to miss a day," she advises. "In the morning, it sets your thermostat for calmness and vitality. In the evening, it lowers stress."

Train your mind. Each day when you meditate, you will be training your mind to pay attention in an accepting way. "Start with your body and breath as an anchor in the moment," says Dr. Shapiro. "When the mind wanders off, we gently note where it went and come back to (awareness of) breath and body." Many people are surprised at how hard it is to pay attention. When you're not paying attention, you don't even feel your breath. "It's called 'monkey mind.' Your mind swings from one thought to another, like a monkey in trees," she adds.

"What you're trying to do is cultivate the ability to pay attention," says Dr. Shapiro. "You know when you're mindful and when you're on automatic pilot. There's a qualitative difference."

Extend your mindful actions. Mindfulness practice can't succeed if you compartmentalize it into one 5- or 20-minute session. Once you become comfortable with the practice, bring mindfulness into your daily life. Take time to appreciate the experience of simple actions, such as washing dishes, eating a meal or taking a walk. The more skilled you become at mindfulness meditation, the more seamless the transition becomes between your "official" mindfulness meditation and everyday experiences.

Find a teacher. It helps to have guidance, as you would in a yoga or spinning class. One good measure is to look for a teacher trained in the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) techniques developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society. Hospitals with integrative medicine departments are also good resources for meditation programs and instructors.

If you're experiencing severe anxiety, depression or debilitating stress, consult with a mental health professional or other health care provider. Some are trained in MBSR and use mindfulness meditation along with talk therapy or medications.

Study Shows Ethnicty May Play A Large Role In How People Invest | View Clip03/21/2011RenewableEnergyWorld.com

BOSTON ( TheStreet ) -- Ethnicity and cultural background may play a large role in how people invest and save. For instance: A majority of Chinese American households do not save enough of their income, choosing instead to invest the majority of their net worth in the stock market, According to a study by Rui Yao, personal financial planning professor in the University of Missouri's School of Human Environmental Sciences, in a recent Journal of East Asian Studies . It's typically advised that at least three months' worth of income should be saved and liquid in case of an emergency or income disruption. It's a rule of thumb Chinese Americans seem to ignore, Rao says, despite the high savings rates found in China. "Less than 50% of Chinese Americans meet the emergency fund ratio guideline, but [they] are also investing more than average," she says. "Chinese Americans tend to have too much exposure in the stock market. In an emergency, stocks and bonds can be quickly sold and liquidated, but when the markets are down, like they are now, it is not wise to sell your stocks because you won't get a good return back on them." Chinese Americans represent the largest group of Asians in the United States, yet relatively little research has been done on them, Yao says. Similar studies have shown a similar, higher risk tolerance among Hispanic families, and less among whites and African Americans. The differences may lie in the difference between collectivism and individualism, cultural traits that persist even after assimilation in American culture. That's among the conclusions presented in research that also focuses on Chinese Americans, by Meir Statman, a professor of finance at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business, and Jessica Weng, director for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nelson Capital Management. They draw upon studies that have "attributed the relatively high investment risk tolerance of the Chinese to the 'cushion' provided by extended families in its collectivistic society." People are more willing to take risk in collectivistic societies than individualistic ones because they know their families will provide for them if they fail. The United States ranks first among countries ranked by individualism, Statman and Weng say. They "do help parents who fall into poverty, but certainly not to the extent that parents are helped in countries such as China, where 'filial loyalty' is expected." A survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Research also shows that money-related attitudes can vary by ethnicity. African Americans and Hispanics were found to have a more positive outlook for the U.S. economy and their own financial situation than whites. The survey also showed that African Americans were more focused on paying off consumer debt than whites and Asians. Asians were more likely than other races and ethnicities to prioritize paying off a mortgage and less likely than others to focus on just covering basic expenses. This post originally appeared at The Street . Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Pension Plans Keep Betting On Hedge Funds

Study Shows Ethnicty May Play A Large Role In How People Invest | View Clip03/21/2011WTVD-TV - Online (press release)

BOSTON ( TheStreet ) -- Ethnicity and cultural background may play a large role in how people invest and save. For instance: A majority of Chinese American households do not save enough of their income, choosing instead to invest the majority of their net worth in the stock market, According to a study by Rui Yao, personal financial planning professor in the University of Missouri's School of Human Environmental Sciences, in a recent Journal of East Asian Studies . It's typically advised that at least three months' worth of income should be saved and liquid in case of an emergency or income disruption. It's a rule of thumb Chinese Americans seem to ignore, Rao says, despite the high savings rates found in China. "Less than 50% of Chinese Americans meet the emergency fund ratio guideline, but [they] are also investing more than average," she says. "Chinese Americans tend to have too much exposure in the stock market. In an emergency, stocks and bonds can be quickly sold and liquidated, but when the markets are down, like they are now, it is not wise to sell your stocks because you won't get a good return back on them." Chinese Americans represent the largest group of Asians in the United States, yet relatively little research has been done on them, Yao says. Similar studies have shown a similar, higher risk tolerance among Hispanic families, and less among whites and African Americans. The differences may lie in the difference between collectivism and individualism, cultural traits that persist even after assimilation in American culture. That's among the conclusions presented in research that also focuses on Chinese Americans, by Meir Statman, a professor of finance at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business, and Jessica Weng, director for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nelson Capital Management. They draw upon studies that have "attributed the relatively high investment risk tolerance of the Chinese to the 'cushion' provided by extended families in its collectivistic society." People are more willing to take risk in collectivistic societies than individualistic ones because they know their families will provide for them if they fail. The United States ranks first among countries ranked by individualism, Statman and Weng say. They "do help parents who fall into poverty, but certainly not to the extent that parents are helped in countries such as China, where 'filial loyalty' is expected." A survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Research also shows that money-related attitudes can vary by ethnicity. African Americans and Hispanics were found to have a more positive outlook for the U.S. economy and their own financial situation than whites. The survey also showed that African Americans were more focused on paying off consumer debt than whites and Asians. Asians were more likely than other races and ethnicities to prioritize paying off a mortgage and less likely than others to focus on just covering basic expenses. This post originally appeared at The Street . Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Pension Plans Keep Betting On Hedge Funds

Study Shows Ethnicty May Play A Large Role In How People Invest | View Clip03/21/2011KYW-TV - Online (press release)

BOSTON ( TheStreet ) -- Ethnicity and cultural background may play a large role in how people invest and save. For instance: A majority of Chinese American households do not save enough of their income, choosing instead to invest the majority of their net worth in the stock market, According to a study by Rui Yao, personal financial planning professor in the University of Missouri's School of Human Environmental Sciences, in a recent Journal of East Asian Studies . It's typically advised that at least three months' worth of income should be saved and liquid in case of an emergency or income disruption. It's a rule of thumb Chinese Americans seem to ignore, Rao says, despite the high savings rates found in China. "Less than 50% of Chinese Americans meet the emergency fund ratio guideline, but [they] are also investing more than average," she says. "Chinese Americans tend to have too much exposure in the stock market. In an emergency, stocks and bonds can be quickly sold and liquidated, but when the markets are down, like they are now, it is not wise to sell your stocks because you won't get a good return back on them." Chinese Americans represent the largest group of Asians in the United States, yet relatively little research has been done on them, Yao says. Similar studies have shown a similar, higher risk tolerance among Hispanic families, and less among whites and African Americans. The differences may lie in the difference between collectivism and individualism, cultural traits that persist even after assimilation in American culture. That's among the conclusions presented in research that also focuses on Chinese Americans, by Meir Statman, a professor of finance at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business, and Jessica Weng, director for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nelson Capital Management. They draw upon studies that have "attributed the relatively high investment risk tolerance of the Chinese to the 'cushion' provided by extended families in its collectivistic society." People are more willing to take risk in collectivistic societies than individualistic ones because they know their families will provide for them if they fail. The United States ranks first among countries ranked by individualism, Statman and Weng say. They "do help parents who fall into poverty, but certainly not to the extent that parents are helped in countries such as China, where 'filial loyalty' is expected." A survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Research also shows that money-related attitudes can vary by ethnicity. African Americans and Hispanics were found to have a more positive outlook for the U.S. economy and their own financial situation than whites. The survey also showed that African Americans were more focused on paying off consumer debt than whites and Asians. Asians were more likely than other races and ethnicities to prioritize paying off a mortgage and less likely than others to focus on just covering basic expenses. This post originally appeared at The Street . Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Pension Plans Keep Betting On Hedge Funds

Study Shows Ethnicty May Play A Large Role In How People Invest | View Clip03/21/2011MinyanVille (press release)

BOSTON ( TheStreet ) -- Ethnicity and cultural background may play a large role in how people invest and save. For instance: A majority of Chinese American households do not save enough of their income, choosing instead to invest the majority of their net worth in the stock market, According to a study by Rui Yao, personal financial planning professor in the University of Missouri's School of Human Environmental Sciences, in a recent Journal of East Asian Studies . It's typically advised that at least three months' worth of income should be saved and liquid in case of an emergency or income disruption. It's a rule of thumb Chinese Americans seem to ignore, Rao says, despite the high savings rates found in China. "Less than 50% of Chinese Americans meet the emergency fund ratio guideline, but [they] are also investing more than average," she says. "Chinese Americans tend to have too much exposure in the stock market. In an emergency, stocks and bonds can be quickly sold and liquidated, but when the markets are down, like they are now, it is not wise to sell your stocks because you won't get a good return back on them." Chinese Americans represent the largest group of Asians in the United States, yet relatively little research has been done on them, Yao says. Similar studies have shown a similar, higher risk tolerance among Hispanic families, and less among whites and African Americans. The differences may lie in the difference between collectivism and individualism, cultural traits that persist even after assimilation in American culture. That's among the conclusions presented in research that also focuses on Chinese Americans, by Meir Statman, a professor of finance at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business, and Jessica Weng, director for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nelson Capital Management. They draw upon studies that have "attributed the relatively high investment risk tolerance of the Chinese to the 'cushion' provided by extended families in its collectivistic society." People are more willing to take risk in collectivistic societies than individualistic ones because they know their families will provide for them if they fail. The United States ranks first among countries ranked by individualism, Statman and Weng say. They "do help parents who fall into poverty, but certainly not to the extent that parents are helped in countries such as China, where 'filial loyalty' is expected." A survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Research also shows that money-related attitudes can vary by ethnicity. African Americans and Hispanics were found to have a more positive outlook for the U.S. economy and their own financial situation than whites. The survey also showed that African Americans were more focused on paying off consumer debt than whites and Asians. Asians were more likely than other races and ethnicities to prioritize paying off a mortgage and less likely than others to focus on just covering basic expenses. This post originally appeared at The Street . Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Pension Plans Keep Betting On Hedge Funds

Study Shows Ethnicty May Play A Large Role In How People Invest | View Clip03/21/2011Cincinnati Enquirer - Online (press release)

BOSTON ( TheStreet ) -- Ethnicity and cultural background may play a large role in how people invest and save. For instance: A majority of Chinese American households do not save enough of their income, choosing instead to invest the majority of their net worth in the stock market, According to a study by Rui Yao, personal financial planning professor in the University of Missouri's School of Human Environmental Sciences, in a recent Journal of East Asian Studies . It's typically advised that at least three months' worth of income should be saved and liquid in case of an emergency or income disruption. It's a rule of thumb Chinese Americans seem to ignore, Rao says, despite the high savings rates found in China. "Less than 50% of Chinese Americans meet the emergency fund ratio guideline, but [they] are also investing more than average," she says. "Chinese Americans tend to have too much exposure in the stock market. In an emergency, stocks and bonds can be quickly sold and liquidated, but when the markets are down, like they are now, it is not wise to sell your stocks because you won't get a good return back on them." Chinese Americans represent the largest group of Asians in the United States, yet relatively little research has been done on them, Yao says. Similar studies have shown a similar, higher risk tolerance among Hispanic families, and less among whites and African Americans. The differences may lie in the difference between collectivism and individualism, cultural traits that persist even after assimilation in American culture. That's among the conclusions presented in research that also focuses on Chinese Americans, by Meir Statman, a professor of finance at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business, and Jessica Weng, director for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nelson Capital Management. They draw upon studies that have "attributed the relatively high investment risk tolerance of the Chinese to the 'cushion' provided by extended families in its collectivistic society." People are more willing to take risk in collectivistic societies than individualistic ones because they know their families will provide for them if they fail. The United States ranks first among countries ranked by individualism, Statman and Weng say. They "do help parents who fall into poverty, but certainly not to the extent that parents are helped in countries such as China, where 'filial loyalty' is expected." A survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Research also shows that money-related attitudes can vary by ethnicity. African Americans and Hispanics were found to have a more positive outlook for the U.S. economy and their own financial situation than whites. The survey also showed that African Americans were more focused on paying off consumer debt than whites and Asians. Asians were more likely than other races and ethnicities to prioritize paying off a mortgage and less likely than others to focus on just covering basic expenses. This post originally appeared at The Street . Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Pension Plans Keep Betting On Hedge Funds

Study Shows Ethnicty May Play A Large Role In How People Invest | View Clip03/21/2011Press-Enterprise - Online (press release)

BOSTON ( TheStreet ) -- Ethnicity and cultural background may play a large role in how people invest and save. For instance: A majority of Chinese American households do not save enough of their income, choosing instead to invest the majority of their net worth in the stock market, According to a study by Rui Yao, personal financial planning professor in the University of Missouri's School of Human Environmental Sciences, in a recent Journal of East Asian Studies . It's typically advised that at least three months' worth of income should be saved and liquid in case of an emergency or income disruption. It's a rule of thumb Chinese Americans seem to ignore, Rao says, despite the high savings rates found in China. "Less than 50% of Chinese Americans meet the emergency fund ratio guideline, but [they] are also investing more than average," she says. "Chinese Americans tend to have too much exposure in the stock market. In an emergency, stocks and bonds can be quickly sold and liquidated, but when the markets are down, like they are now, it is not wise to sell your stocks because you won't get a good return back on them." Chinese Americans represent the largest group of Asians in the United States, yet relatively little research has been done on them, Yao says. Similar studies have shown a similar, higher risk tolerance among Hispanic families, and less among whites and African Americans. The differences may lie in the difference between collectivism and individualism, cultural traits that persist even after assimilation in American culture. That's among the conclusions presented in research that also focuses on Chinese Americans, by Meir Statman, a professor of finance at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business, and Jessica Weng, director for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nelson Capital Management. They draw upon studies that have "attributed the relatively high investment risk tolerance of the Chinese to the 'cushion' provided by extended families in its collectivistic society." People are more willing to take risk in collectivistic societies than individualistic ones because they know their families will provide for them if they fail. The United States ranks first among countries ranked by individualism, Statman and Weng say. They "do help parents who fall into poverty, but certainly not to the extent that parents are helped in countries such as China, where 'filial loyalty' is expected." A survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Research also shows that money-related attitudes can vary by ethnicity. African Americans and Hispanics were found to have a more positive outlook for the U.S. economy and their own financial situation than whites. The survey also showed that African Americans were more focused on paying off consumer debt than whites and Asians. Asians were more likely than other races and ethnicities to prioritize paying off a mortgage and less likely than others to focus on just covering basic expenses. This post originally appeared at The Street . Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Pension Plans Keep Betting On Hedge Funds

Study Shows Ethnicty May Play A Large Role In How People Invest | View Clip03/21/2011WCCO-TV - Online (press release)

BOSTON ( TheStreet ) -- Ethnicity and cultural background may play a large role in how people invest and save. For instance: A majority of Chinese American households do not save enough of their income, choosing instead to invest the majority of their net worth in the stock market, According to a study by Rui Yao, personal financial planning professor in the University of Missouri's School of Human Environmental Sciences, in a recent Journal of East Asian Studies . It's typically advised that at least three months' worth of income should be saved and liquid in case of an emergency or income disruption. It's a rule of thumb Chinese Americans seem to ignore, Rao says, despite the high savings rates found in China. "Less than 50% of Chinese Americans meet the emergency fund ratio guideline, but [they] are also investing more than average," she says. "Chinese Americans tend to have too much exposure in the stock market. In an emergency, stocks and bonds can be quickly sold and liquidated, but when the markets are down, like they are now, it is not wise to sell your stocks because you won't get a good return back on them." Chinese Americans represent the largest group of Asians in the United States, yet relatively little research has been done on them, Yao says. Similar studies have shown a similar, higher risk tolerance among Hispanic families, and less among whites and African Americans. The differences may lie in the difference between collectivism and individualism, cultural traits that persist even after assimilation in American culture. That's among the conclusions presented in research that also focuses on Chinese Americans, by Meir Statman, a professor of finance at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business, and Jessica Weng, director for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nelson Capital Management. They draw upon studies that have "attributed the relatively high investment risk tolerance of the Chinese to the 'cushion' provided by extended families in its collectivistic society." People are more willing to take risk in collectivistic societies than individualistic ones because they know their families will provide for them if they fail. The United States ranks first among countries ranked by individualism, Statman and Weng say. They "do help parents who fall into poverty, but certainly not to the extent that parents are helped in countries such as China, where 'filial loyalty' is expected." A survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Research also shows that money-related attitudes can vary by ethnicity. African Americans and Hispanics were found to have a more positive outlook for the U.S. economy and their own financial situation than whites. The survey also showed that African Americans were more focused on paying off consumer debt than whites and Asians. Asians were more likely than other races and ethnicities to prioritize paying off a mortgage and less likely than others to focus on just covering basic expenses. This post originally appeared at The Street . Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Pension Plans Keep Betting On Hedge Funds

Study Looks at Race's Role in Investing | View Clip03/21/2011TheStreet.com

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- Ethnicity and cultural background may play a large role in how people invest and save.

For instance: A majority of Chinese American households do not save enough of their income, choosing instead to invest the majority of their net worth in the stock market, According to a study by Rui Yao, personal financial planning professor in the University of Missouri's School of Human Environmental Sciences, in a recent

Journal of East Asian Studies.

Among investment practices shaped by race and cultural background: Chinese American households do not save enough of their income, choosing instead to invest the majority of their net worth in the stock market, a study shows.

It's typically advised that at least three months' worth of income should be saved and liquid in case of an emergency or income disruption. It's a rule of thumb Chinese Americans seem to ignore, Rao says, despite the high savings rates found in China.

"Less than 50% of Chinese Americans meet the emergency fund ratio guideline, but [they] are also investing more than average," she says. "Chinese Americans tend to have too much exposure in the stock market. In an emergency, stocks and bonds can be quickly sold and liquidated, but when the markets are down, like they are now, it is not wise to sell your stocks because you won't get a good return back on them."

Chinese Americans represent the largest group of Asians in the United States, yet relatively little research has been done on them, Yao says.

Similar studies have shown a similar, higher risk tolerance among Hispanic families, and less among whites and African Americans.

The differences may lie in the difference between collectivism and individualism, cultural traits that persist even after assimilation in American culture.

That's among the conclusions presented in

research that also focuses on Chinese Americans, by Meir Statman, a professor of finance at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business, and Jessica Weng, director for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nelson Capital Management.

They draw upon studies that have "attributed the relatively high investment risk tolerance of the Chinese to the 'cushion' provided by extended families in its collectivistic society."

People are more willing to take risk in collectivistic societies than individualistic ones because they know their families will provide for them if they fail.

The United States ranks first among countries ranked by individualism, Statman and Weng say. They "do help parents who fall into poverty, but certainly not to the extent that parents are helped in countries such as China, where 'filial loyalty' is expected."

A survey by the

Transamerica Center for Retirement Research also shows that money-related attitudes can vary by ethnicity.

African Americans and Hispanics were found to have a more positive outlook for the U.S. economy and their own financial situation than whites. The survey also showed that African Americans were more focused on paying off consumer debt than whites and Asians. Asians were more likely than other races and ethnicities to prioritize paying off a mortgage and less likely than others to focus on just covering basic expenses.

Study Shows Ethnicty May Play A Large Role In How People Invest | View Clip03/21/2011Silicon Alley Insider

Joe Mont, The Street | Mar. 21, 2011, 12:20 PM | 48 |

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- Ethnicity and cultural background may play a large role in how people invest and save.

For instance: A majority of Chinese American households do not save enough of their income, choosing instead to invest the majority of their net worth in the stock market, According to a study by Rui Yao, personal financial planning professor in the University of Missouri's School of Human Environmental Sciences, in a recent Journal of East Asian Studies.

It's typically advised that at least three months' worth of income should be saved and liquid in case of an emergency or income disruption. It's a rule of thumb Chinese Americans seem to ignore, Rao says, despite the high savings rates found in China.

"Less than 50% of Chinese Americans meet the emergency fund ratio guideline, but [they] are also investing more than average," she says. "Chinese Americans tend to have too much exposure in the stock market. In an emergency, stocks and bonds can be quickly sold and liquidated, but when the markets are down, like they are now, it is not wise to sell your stocks because you won't get a good return back on them."

Chinese Americans represent the largest group of Asians in the United States, yet relatively little research has been done on them, Yao says.

Similar studies have shown a similar, higher risk tolerance among Hispanic families, and less among whites and African Americans.

The differences may lie in the difference between collectivism and individualism, cultural traits that persist even after assimilation in American culture.

That's among the conclusions presented in research that also focuses on Chinese Americans, by Meir Statman, a professor of finance at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business, and Jessica Weng, director for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nelson Capital Management.

They draw upon studies that have "attributed the relatively high investment risk tolerance of the Chinese to the 'cushion' provided by extended families in its collectivistic society."

People are more willing to take risk in collectivistic societies than individualistic ones because they know their families will provide for them if they fail.

The United States ranks first among countries ranked by individualism, Statman and Weng say. They "do help parents who fall into poverty, but certainly not to the extent that parents are helped in countries such as China, where 'filial loyalty' is expected."

A survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Research also shows that money-related attitudes can vary by ethnicity.

African Americans and Hispanics were found to have a more positive outlook for the U.S. economy and their own financial situation than whites. The survey also showed that African Americans were more focused on paying off consumer debt than whites and Asians. Asians were more likely than other races and ethnicities to prioritize paying off a mortgage and less likely than others to focus on just covering basic expenses.

As consumers manage more of their lives via smart phones and iPads, financial services companies are trying to ensure that they don't get lost in the electronic shuffle.

“The industry right now is app crazy,” said James McGovern, vice president for consulting services at Corporate Insight, a firm that monitors the ways that financial companies communicate with customers.

“We're just going where the customers are,” said Christopher Larkin, E*Trade Financial Corp.'s senior vice president for active trading.

Bank of America Corp.'s online brokerage firm, Merrill Edge, is even exploring the idea of face-to-face teleconferencing between clients and financial advisers through the mobile apps that it unveiled March 9, said Alok Prasad, the division's head.

Forrester Research Inc. estimates that more than 10 million Americans use mobile-banking technology and that the number could rise to 50 million by 2015. Members of Generation X and Y make up about 75% of Forrester's estimate of 10 million.

Although many of those consumers are comfortable using mobile apps to check their balances, companies need to work themselves more deeply into a mobile customer's financial life or the work that goes into developing all these mobile apps may wind up being “another cost center,” said Gartner Inc. analyst Stessa Cohen.

The “real potential” for mobile personal-finance apps may come from linking investments and savings with spending in real time, said Ron Shevlin, senior analyst at research firm Aite Group LLC. Apps could track consumers' spending and investments while offering “personal-finance management” by maintaining budgets and helping consumers “make smart decisions about how to finance a purchase,” he said.

To do that, financial outfits have to get in on the front end of spending decisions. Such companies as Bank of America and Wells Fargo & Co. have been testing mobile-payment systems using smart phones in a small number of cities across the country.

In December, Wells Fargo started a pilot study with 200 employees in San Francisco. After a similar employee study last year, BofA on March 28 will launch a mobile-payment test with customers in Atlanta, New York and San Francisco.

Just as they would swipe a credit card, shoppers hold phones up to special readers to complete purchases. In addition to offering a convenient way to pay through credit or debit accounts, mobile phones could deliver instant coupons and other promotions to shoppers, said Arah Erickson, head of Wells Fargo's retail-mobile-banking division.

If closer connections with financial providers make it easier for consumers to see where their money goes, that could be a big positive, said Santa Clara University finance professor Meir Statman, who is an expert on behavioral finance. Such knowledge “really bolsters their self-control” when out shopping, he said.

Another outcome could be less positive, though.

“People are more likely to trade more if it's made easier,” Mr. Statman said. “What we know from studies is the more you trade, the more you are likely to lag behind people who buy and hold investments.”

Thus far, 11% of investors use their brokerages' mobile offerings, and about a quarter of those users trade through mobile platforms, according to Forrester.

E*Trade said that about 3% to 4% of its trades are placed through mobile devices, and it soon will add trading of futures and mutual funds to its lineup of stocks and options.

TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. has seen increased trading activity due to its mobile app, particularly in options trading, said Nicole Sherrod, managing director of the company's trader group. Nevertheless, the main goal isn't to boost trading immediately but to attract customers and position the firm for growth, she said.

TD Ameritrade will launch its second iPad app late next month, with this one aimed at long-term investors rather than traders, Ms. Sherrod said.

Forrester analyst Bill Doyle said he doubts that mobile offerings will stimulate much extra trading overall, but he does expect customers to shift holdings to companies with better mobile offerings.

“Mobile devices are changing consumers' perceptions of how convenient financial transactions should be,” Mr. Erickson said. “Today, convenience means the PC is across the room, and I don't feel like booting it up.”

On top of the probes by the European Commission and the Texas attorney general's office, a number of U.S. senators have stepped up in recent days to call for public hearings.

Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., chairman of the antitrust subcommittee, said he plans to scrutinize the company's practices in the current session.

"We will closely examine allegations raised by e-commerce websites that compete with Google that they are being treated unfairly," he said in a statement.

The concerns center on what's known as search engine bias. Critics allege that Google has abused its dominance in online search by unfairly demoting rivals and promoting its own products on the results page. These worries have grown as Google has expanded beyond search, with services like maps, videos, restaurant ratings and shopping comparison tools.

Gaining monopoly control over a market like online search through competitive means isn't an issue under antitrust law, but it's a concern for regulators when dominant firms use their power to unfairly gain advantages in other areas. Google faces clear rivals in these peripheral markets that have long depended on the world's dominant search engine for much of their traffic.

But bias in search is a particularly tricky thing to prove or disprove because, among other things, the quality of any online site or service is ultimately subjective. Who's to say what should rank at the top of the page?

Internet users depend on Google and other search engines to make tough choices about the relative usefulness of millions of online properties, and help them find the ones with the most relevant information as quickly as possible. By definition some sites show up high, and some rank low.

Google maintains that its criteria for evaluating sites are based strictly on what best serves users, and that complaining sites ranked poorly simply because they were less useful. It also consistently says the search industry remains a competitive field.

The Chronicle recently sat down with two academic researchers who have studied the search bias issue and arrived at starkly different conclusions. The interviews have been edited for space and clarity.

Ben Edelman, top, is an assistant professor at Harvard Business School. Eric Goldman, above, is a Santa Clara University law professor. They discuss search engine bias on D3.

The brewing battle

With antitrust pressure mounting against Google, The Chronicle is exploring the issues and what's at stake through a series of interviews and articles.

When I studied engineering at the University of Toronto and California Institute of Technology, it was all left-brain work. My classmates and I knew that career success depended on linear, logical, and analytical talents. Left-brain thinking also dominated much of my career as a professor at Stanford and initially as dean of Santa Clara University's School of Engineering.

But the world's engineering problems are complex and require use of both sides of the brain, so engineering schools have been changing curricula to work on the right brain too, so students will become ethical, compassionate, and innovative engineers.

Engineers Without Borders emanated from the University of Colorado to create positive change for developing communities. A decade after its birth, EWB has 206 chapters, more than 100 projects in 34 countries, and more than 4,000 members, many of them from universities.

Stanford's "d school," or institute of design, is a hub for students and faculty in engineering, medicine, business, the humanities, and education to learn design thinking and work together to solve problems in a human-centered way.

Institutions like Rice and Santa Clara send students all over the world to immerse themselves in different cultures and find engineering solutions to challenges like clean water. Because of its Jesuit mission, Santa Clara has taken its curriculum one step further by requiring students to engage in service and community-based learning.

Santa Clara civil engineering junior Ashley Ciglar has built forms for concrete slabs and framed houses without power tools in Mexico, where she saw families living in shacks without water or electricity. She welled with emotion when a mother cried tears of joy upon seeing the house the students had built for her family. She created water distribution and filtration systems in Honduras and Nicaragua, has done more than 20 service projects near campus and is pursuing a fellowship to train farmers in methods to adopt organic practices.

Until they engage both sides of their brains in college, students like Ciglar do not fully understand the needs of the world, nor the solutions offered by engineering. They expand their education beyond formulas and equations to include an awareness of the real world, and how they can personally make a difference. It's an empowering realization.

Engineering curricula are quite full at every school, but we can find innovative ways of incorporating interdisciplinary learning and right-brain focus. We also need to engage students in more and deeper discussions about ethical decision-making, globalization, and concern for others.

As I like to tell first-year students, becoming a great engineer involves the head, heart, and hands. You can learn the core of your profession -- math, physics, and science -- at any university. But today's students need to deepen their empathy for the plight of others, as Ciglar and many other engineering students at top schools do.

With less than one percent of the world's population holding a bachelor's degree, college graduates are an extremely elite group. Those who graduate with engineering degrees, I believe, have a moral obligation to help the world's poor and under-served with basic needs, like gaining access to clean water, adequate lighting or cooking fuel.

We live in such a diverse global society that I think engineering students should also serve in communities with cultures different from their own. This kind of immersion leads to a broader perspective, one that will cause students to ask deeper questions and thus find more compelling, more compassionate answers. They learn to tackle poverty's problems, but as important, they begin to understand why they should care, and their character blossoms.

Professors and administrators have a duty to empower young adults to make a difference through curricula and co-curricula opportunities. Those of us designing courses and projects need to ask: will this experience teach our students merely to become good engineers; or will it transform them into well-rounded leaders who will go beyond knowledge to use their heads, hearts and hands to improve technology for the greater good?

Godfrey Mungal is dean of the school of engineering at Santa Clara University.

Applications are being accepted for the 2011-12 Leadership Rowan program sponsored by the Rowan County Chamber of Commerce.

This will be the 20th consecutive year for Leadership Rowan, which is designed to help developing leaders and enhance existing leaders in Rowan County.

The program begins Aug. 11-13 with a retreat at The Catholic Conference Center in Hickory. Nine sessions will follow, beginning in September and they run from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month. Each participant is required to attend the retreat and all sessions.

Tuition is $700 for Chamber members and $750 for non-members. This fee covers the kick-off banquet, retreat, all session materials and meals and graduation dinner. Tuition is due July 31. Limited financial assistance may be available for those who need and request it.

Applications may be obtained by contacting the Rowan County Chamber of Commerce at 704-633-4221 or visiting www.rowanchamber.com. Completed applications must be received by May.

Dr. James “Chip” Comadoll has been selected as the North Carolina Athletic Trainers' Association Sports Medicine Person of the Year.

He was honored and received the award at the annual meeting of the NCATA in Clemmons on March 5.

Comadoll was presented this award during a luncheon by Robert J. Casmus, head athletic trainer at Catawba College. Comadoll has worked in sports medicine in Rowan and surrounding counties since 1992. He is one of the team physicians for Catawba College.

Comadoll has also been instrumental in helping develop the newly created sports medicine program by Rowan Regional Medical Center and RoMedical Care. Both RRMC and RoMedical are partnering with the Rowan-Salisbury Schools to provide a certified athletic trainer to the area high schools.

Comadoll is lead physician for RoMedical Care, 1035 Lincolnton Road. RoMedical is affiliated with Novant Medical Group, the same parent company that has an affiliation with Rowan Regional Medical Center.

Goins earns highest certificate in five inspection fields

Brian Goins, Rowan County's plans examiner, has become one of the few building code officials in the state to qualify for the highest certificates available in all five inspection fields.

The N.C. Code Officials Qualification Board has five areas in which they award certification — building inspections, mechanical inspections, electrical inspections, plumbing inspections and fire prevention.

Each area of expertise has three levels. Level I will allow inspectors to inspect buildings that are relatively small and generally one story in height. Level II inspectors can inspect buildings and systems that are larger and up to four stories in height. Level III inspectors can inspect buildings and systems of an unlimited nature.

Each certificate requires the applicant attend class at a community college, pass the class, provide experience documentation and pass a state test.

Goins is the 204th person to receive all five certificates out of the approximately 4,000 inspectors statewide.

An employee of the building codes enforcement office for 71/2 years, Goins graduated from Rowan-Cabarrus Community College in 2002 with an associate degree in mechanical drafting technology.

Adcock a new Realtor withApple House Realty

Jan Adcock has joined Apple House Realty as a Realtor.

She is a graduate of South Rowan High School and was a mortgage broker for seven years before obtaining a real estate broker's license from Rowan-Cabarrus Community College in 2006.

She serves on the professional standards committee for Salisbury-Rowan Association of Realtors. A member of Concord First Assembly, she serves on the board of directors for Restoration Link, a nonprofit organization for those in need and crisis.

Smart Choice Senior Transitions specializes in assisting older adults when they need to downsize and relocate, or to right-size their current home for retirement safety and comfort.

Jo Kearns, a certified relocation and transition specialist, owns Smart Choice Senior Transitions and is a member of the National Association of Senior Move Managers.

“The Senior-Friendly Business Certification is an important acknowledgement by the Council on Aging, and I am proud that my business was able to earn this recognition,” Kearns said.

The Rowan County Council on Aging has offered the business certification program to local businesses since 2009. Nine businesses have received the local designation.

For more information, visit www.SmartChoiceSeniorTransitions.com or contact Kearns at 704-633-2792 or e-mail Jo@SmartChoiceSeniorTransitions.com.

To learn more about the Senior Friendly Business Certification Program or the Rowan County Council on Aging, contact Rufty-Holmes Senior Center in Salisbury.

Key named president of National Association of College Stores

Danny A. Key, a Salisbury resident and director of Bookstore Services at Wingate University, was installed as president of the Board of Trustees for the National Association of College Stores (NACS), the professional trade association that represents the nation's $10 billion higher education retailing industry.

He will take the lead role in governance of the association's more than 4,000 store and associate members, directing the organization toward enhancing college stores through education, advocacy and the utilization of new technologies.

Key has served several terms on the NACS Board, as well as the Education and Small Stores committees.

Johnston joins Nationwide, Landmark agency

Nationwide Insurance-Landmark Insurance Agency has hired David C. Johnston as a new associate agent.

Johnston has 15 years experience in the insurance business as the former owner of Pegram and Johnston Insurance Agencies in Salisbury and Albemarle.

He has an associate degree in electronics engineering from Rowan-Cabarrus Community College and is a past general chairman of the Holiday Caravan Christmas parade, past president of the Rowan County Agricultural Fair and past president of the North Rowan Booster club. He is a member of the Spencer Moose lodge, a lifetime member of the Spencer Jaycees and a member of Spencer Presbyterian Church. He and wife Teresa have three children, Heather, Christopher and Taylor.

The office is located at 123 South Long St. and office hours are 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. Call him at 704-633-7283 or johnd130@nationwide.com.

15 Bloom stores to be Food Lions in Charlotte, Greenville, S.C.

Delhaize America is changing 15 of its Bloom bannered stores around Charlotte and Greenville, S.C., to Food Lions.

The Bloom in Mauldin, S.C., will close by the end of next month.

“We appreciate the loyalty of our Bloom guests; however, we are confident our Food Lion banner will best meet the needs of our customers at these locations,” Bloom VP Tammy DeBoer said. “Our stores will remain open as we transition into Food Lion stores as quickly as possible.”

Delhaize officials decided to focus the Bloom banner in the southeast Virginia and Washington markets.

CommunityOne Bank parent loses $29.6 million for quarter

ASHEBORO — FNB United Corp., the holding company for CommunityOne Bank, N.A., and its wholly owned subsidiary, Dover Mortgage Co., reported a net operating loss of $29.6 million for the fourth quarter, due largely to its recognition of provisions for loan losses of $22.4 million in the quarter.

Adjusting for dividends payable to the U.S. Treasury on the preferred stock issued in the Capital Purchase Program, the fourth quarter 2010 loss attributable to common shareholders was $30.4 million, or $2.67 per diluted share. During the fourth quarter of 2009, FNB United recognized a provision for loan losses of $24.7 million and incurred a net loss of $28.9 million, or $2.53 per diluted share.

FNB United reported a net operating loss of $112.9 million for the year ended Dec. 31. Adjusting for dividends payable to the U.S. Treasury on the preferred stock issued in the Capital Purchase Program, the resulting 2010 loss attributable to common shareholders was $116.2 million, or $10.17 per diluted share.

Event for wartime veterans Thursday at Salisbury Gardens

Salisbury Gardens and Liberty Commons are sponsoring an event Thursday at 9:30 a.m. for wartime veterans to see if they or their spouses are entitled to benefits from the Veterans Administration. Breakfast will be served. RSVP to 704-636-0588.

Salisbury Gardens is at 2201 Statesville Blvd.

Recruitment fair for nurses March 31 at Gentiva Home Health

Gentiva Home Health is having a recruitment fair on Thursday, March 31, for skilled nurses, physical, occupational and speech therapists. Clinicians interested in a career in home health medical care, contact Susan Wear at Gentiva Home Health, 704-933-1001, for additional information and reservations.

Keyes to speak at real estate investors meeting Tuesday

Jessica Keyes will be guest speaker at the Rowan County Real Estate Investors and Associates meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Keyes is a virtual assistant with more than 10 years of experience handling marketing, bookkeeping, web design and special projects. She has previously worked for commercial and residential builders. You can visit www.virtualassistantextraordinaire.com or call her at 704-746-7248 or e-mail VAExtraordinaire@aol.com.

She will discuss how to identify, reach and connect with potential clients and what marketing materials make the most difference.

The group meets regularly at China Buffet in Salisbury on the fourth Tuesday of the month. The meeting is open to anyone who would like to attend. (China Buffet is on Arlington street behind O'Charleys near I85 exit 76)

The purpose of the group is to provide information regarding real estate investing in Rowan County.

For more information, contact Bob Yon at 704-762-1117.

Kinzey named BCLC business, society relations adviser

The Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC) has named Ruth Kinzey, president of the Kinzey Company, as one of the organization's business and society relations program advisers.

The BCLC is committed to advancing better business and society relations and improving long-term social and economic conditions. In her advisory capacity, Kinzey participates in content discussions and provides editorial material, which is posted on the BCLC website.

The Kinzey Company, headquartered in Salisbury, protects and enhances reputations through strategic planning and communications that are designed to address an organization's multiple audiences. Communication services also include speeches, customized seminars, media training and executive speech coaching. BCLC, located in Washington, D.C., is a 501(c)3 affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and is a resource and voice for businesses and their social and philanthropic interests.

Hampton Inn opening new location in Huntersville

A new Hampton Inn and Suites will open this week in Huntersville with 125 rooms to serve the Lake Norman region.

A grand opening celebration is planned for April.

It is owned and operated by Daly Seven, Inc., founded by Philip and Frances Daly.

Allstate honors agents from Kannapolis, Concord

Allstate Insurance Co. has recognized agency owners Dave Cash in Kannapolis and Omar Hadi in Concord with President's Conference awards for high standards in customer satisfaction, customer retention and profitable business growth.

The Dave Cash Agency and the Omar Hadi Agency are now among the top Allstate agencies in auto, property, commercial, power sports insurance and financial services sales.

Contact the Dave Cash Agency at 704-499-6445 or by e-mail at davecash@allstate.com.

Reach the Omar Hadi Agency at 704-455-5977 or by e-mail at omarhadi1@allstate.com

Celebrate AdministrativeProfessionals Day at speedway

Celebrate Administrative Professionals Day by treating your administrative assistant to lunch from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Speedway Club at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Wednesday, April 27.

The “At Your Service” event is an annual fundraiser hosted by Hospice & Palliative Care of Cabarrus County, a 501-c-3 non-profit organization. . Tickets are $35 each. For more information, call Jeanette Scire at 704-935-9459.

Modern Family Dental Care grand opening March 31 in Concord

CONCORD — Modern Family Dental Care will hold its grand opening on Thursday, March 31 at 9 a.m.

Located across from Concord Mills Mall, Dr. Taj M. Haynes' office will have three full-time and two part-time employees. Haynes has a bachelor's degree from Santa Clara University and a Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Dental Medicine.

Modern Family Dental Care is located at: 8455 Pit Stop Ct. NW. Suite 140, Concord. Make appointments by calling the office at 704-262-3436. For more information, visit www.modernfamilydentalcare.com.

EnergyUnited offers teachers ‘Bright Ideas' grants up to $2,000

North Carolina's electric cooperatives, including EnergyUnited, have earmarked more than $590,000 for the Bright Ideas classroom-based projects for the 2011-12 school year.

Teachers can learn more about the program, find the application and an explanation about the process at www.ncbrightideas.com.

Interested educators can apply online beginning Friday, April 1. The deadline for teachers to submit an application is Friday, Sept. 23. Grants of up to $2,000 are available through EnergyUnited. Teachers who submit their application by Monday, Aug. 15, will be entered in a drawing for a $500 Visa gift card.

Last year, EnergyUnited granted nearly $39,000 to 25 classroom teachers throughout the 19-county North Carolina region that the cooperative serves. Bright Ideas grants help finance innovative classroom projects that would otherwise not receive funding.

“EnergyUnited is proud of the difference this program is making to the quality of education in our state," said H. Wayne Wilkins, EnergyUnited's chief executive officer. “Last year, the state's electric cooperatives collectively distributed more than $594,000 in Bright Ideas grants, and surpassed $7.3 million dollars in contributions since the program began 18 school years ago.”

Since its inception in 1994, the Bright Ideas grant program has sponsored more than 7,000 projects benefiting more than 1.3 million students. EnergyUnited has awarded approximately 500 grants to classroom teachers totaling more than $500,000. “We understand the importance of creativity in the classroom and we're encouraging innovation through this program,” Wilkins said.

Would high-speed rail spending add jobs in the United States? Of course.

Even if some of the rolling stock for the trains were imported, structures and other permanent way would still have to be built in the United States. Under current conditions, any government spending  for rails, for bridges, for highways, for the military  would contribute to job creation.

Fears that government spending might displace or crowd out private-sector capital formation would be justified were we at or close to capacity. But we are not.

The unemployment rate remains almost 10 percent, and this doesn't account for those who, discouraged, have simply left the workforce.

Even more telling is the ratio of employment to population, which has fallen from its all-time high of over 64 percent in 1999 to 58 percent today. In spite of large "supply side" tax cuts tilted toward the wealthy, the record of the George W. Bush presidency on job creation was in fact quite poor.

For a variety of reasons, including the recent financial crisis, the U.S. economy remains in a serious slump. High-speed rail spending could stimulate job growth and help jump start the economy.

These projects would, of course, add to the deficit and concerns about its long term growth, particularly that attributable to health care, are merited.

Looking back over the last three decades, however, Republicans' interests in deficit reduction seems to have waxed and waned depending upon who occupied the White House.

The deficit ballooned under Bush, due largely to tax cuts but also to increases in military spending and a new unfunded prescription drug benefit. The resulting run-up in the debt was regrettable, but the time to cut government spending is when the economy is strong, not when it is weak.

If the country is going to incur new debt, it is better to do so to acquire well-chosen infrastructure and equipment than to fund consumption.

Would high-speed rail represent well-chosen infrastructure? In other words, would it help the U.S. "win the future"? This is a more complex question. It requires us to consider not simply whether such projects would help close the output gap, but whether and how effectively they would expand the potential output of the economy.

Here there are legitimate concerns about whether the U.S. has enough high density corridors  such as that between Boston and Washington  to yield large benefits.

And building in dense areas can be costly. For example, the proposed Los Angeles to San Francisco route would go right through my backyard in Palo Alto, and the extent to which that part of the route will or will not be put underground has become a contentious political issue.

That said, state and federal governments have a long and largely successful record of supporting infrastructure development, from the Erie Canal to regional and transcontinental railroads to the Interstate Highway System and, more recently, to the Internet.

The build-out of the surface road network during the Great Depression generated large private-sector benefits, contributing to very fast productivity growth in transportation railroads and trucking  as well as in wholesale and retail distribution.

High-speed rail projects could certainly create jobs and stimulate the economy in the short run. Whether they would generate benefits similar to those of other government funded infrastructure projects is uncertain. History suggests, however, that there's a good chance they would.

Would high-speed rail spending add jobs in the United States? Of course.

Even if some of the rolling stock for the trains were imported, structures and other permanent way would still have to be built in the United States. Under current conditions, any government spending  for rails, for bridges, for highways, for the military  would contribute to job creation.

Fears that government spending might displace or crowd out private-sector capital formation would be justified were we at or close to capacity. But we are not.

The unemployment rate remains almost 10 percent, and this doesn't account for those who, discouraged, have simply left the workforce.

Even more telling is the ratio of employment to population, which has fallen from its all-time high of over 64 percent in 1999 to 58 percent today. In spite of large "supply side" tax cuts tilted toward the wealthy, the record of the George W. Bush presidency on job creation was in fact quite poor.

For a variety of reasons, including the recent financial crisis, the U.S. economy remains in a serious slump. High-speed rail spending could stimulate job growth and help jump start the economy.

These projects would, of course, add to the deficit and concerns about its long term growth, particularly that attributable to health care, are merited.

Looking back over the last three decades, however, Republicans' interests in deficit reduction seems to have waxed and waned depending upon who occupied the White House.

The deficit ballooned under Bush, due largely to tax cuts but also to increases in military spending and a new unfunded prescription drug benefit. The resulting run-up in the debt was regrettable, but the time to cut government spending is when the economy is strong, not when it is weak.

If the country is going to incur new debt, it is better to do so to acquire well-chosen infrastructure and equipment than to fund consumption.

Would high-speed rail represent well-chosen infrastructure? In other words, would it help the U.S. "win the future"? This is a more complex question. It requires us to consider not simply whether such projects would help close the output gap, but whether and how effectively they would expand the potential output of the economy.

Here there are legitimate concerns about whether the U.S. has enough high density corridors  such as that between Boston and Washington  to yield large benefits.

And building in dense areas can be costly. For example, the proposed Los Angeles to San Francisco route would go right through my backyard in Palo Alto, and the extent to which that part of the route will or will not be put underground has become a contentious political issue.

That said, state and federal governments have a long and largely successful record of supporting infrastructure development, from the Erie Canal to regional and transcontinental railroads to the Interstate Highway System and, more recently, to the Internet.

The build-out of the surface road network during the Great Depression generated large private-sector benefits, contributing to very fast productivity growth in transportation railroads and trucking  as well as in wholesale and retail distribution.

High-speed rail projects could certainly create jobs and stimulate the economy in the short run. Whether they would generate benefits similar to those of other government funded infrastructure projects is uncertain. History suggests, however, that there's a good chance they would.

Would high-speed rail spending add jobs in the United States? Of course.

Even if some of the rolling stock for the trains were imported, structures and other permanent way would still have to be built in the United States. Under current conditions, any government spending  for rails, for bridges, for highways, for the military  would contribute to job creation.

Fears that government spending might displace or crowd out private-sector capital formation would be justified were we at or close to capacity. But we are not.

The unemployment rate remains almost 10 percent, and this doesn't account for those who, discouraged, have simply left the workforce.

Even more telling is the ratio of employment to population, which has fallen from its all-time high of over 64 percent in 1999 to 58 percent today. In spite of large "supply side" tax cuts tilted toward the wealthy, the record of the George W. Bush presidency on job creation was in fact quite poor.

For a variety of reasons, including the recent financial crisis, the U.S. economy remains in a serious slump. High-speed rail spending could stimulate job growth and help jump start the economy.

These projects would, of course, add to the deficit and concerns about its long term growth, particularly that attributable to health care, are merited.

Looking back over the last three decades, however, Republicans' interests in deficit reduction seems to have waxed and waned depending upon who occupied the White House.

The deficit ballooned under Bush, due largely to tax cuts but also to increases in military spending and a new unfunded prescription drug benefit. The resulting run-up in the debt was regrettable, but the time to cut government spending is when the economy is strong, not when it is weak.

If the country is going to incur new debt, it is better to do so to acquire well-chosen infrastructure and equipment than to fund consumption.

Would high-speed rail represent well-chosen infrastructure? In other words, would it help the U.S. "win the future"? This is a more complex question. It requires us to consider not simply whether such projects would help close the output gap, but whether and how effectively they would expand the potential output of the economy.

Here there are legitimate concerns about whether the U.S. has enough high density corridors  such as that between Boston and Washington  to yield large benefits.

And building in dense areas can be costly. For example, the proposed Los Angeles to San Francisco route would go right through my backyard in Palo Alto, and the extent to which that part of the route will or will not be put underground has become a contentious political issue.

That said, state and federal governments have a long and largely successful record of supporting infrastructure development, from the Erie Canal to regional and transcontinental railroads to the Interstate Highway System and, more recently, to the Internet.

The build-out of the surface road network during the Great Depression generated large private-sector benefits, contributing to very fast productivity growth in transportation railroads and trucking  as well as in wholesale and retail distribution.

High-speed rail projects could certainly create jobs and stimulate the economy in the short run. Whether they would generate benefits similar to those of other government funded infrastructure projects is uncertain. History suggests, however, that there's a good chance they would.

Tucker, 54, won the March 8 special election to fill the remaining 20 months of Councilman Danny Fielder's term. He resigned July 29.

Her election could mark a new turn for the City Council. Tucker joins an inexperienced council, but one with great promise.

Fielder's resignation and the long-term illness of Councilman Dave White crippled the council for several months last year.

The council effectively was down to three members  Mayor Virginia Madueño, Councilwoman Sandy Benitez, and White's grandson and fellow council member, Jesse James White.

The council could not meet several times because it could not muster enough members for a meeting.

Before Fielder's resignation, the council had been divided for more than a year between the Whites and the three other council members. Some meetings were marked by boorish behavior and bad feelings.

Tempers cooled after the November election with newcomers Richard O'Brien and Dotty Nygard taking office. Dave White and Benitez did not run for re-election. The two had more than three decades of service on the council between them.

City Manager Richard Holmer said although this is the least experienced council he has worked with in his 15 years in Riverbank, the council members are a talented, educated group with a wide range of experience.

"They could possibly be the best council the city has ever had," he said.

'Great to have full council'

Tucker is a courts operations manager and has a law degree. "She understands how the public system works," Holmer said.

Nygard is a nurse, community volunteer advocate and president of the nonprofit Riverbank Community Gardens. She spearheaded a 2009 effort to recall the Whites and last year's effort to recall Jesse James White after his arrest on drug possession charges. Tucker helped in last year's recall campaign.

O'Brien is a retired Navy commander, manages one of his family's grocery stores and has a master's in business administration. He asks sharp questions during meetings and asks staff to explain the reasoning behind their proposals.

"With his military serv-ice, he knows how to get things done," Holmer said.

Madueño has a communications degree and owns a public relations and marketing firm.

"This is fantastic. It's great to have a full council," said Madueño, who was elected in November 2009. "I know that if I'm out of town, there are three very competent, smart people who I can rely on to be ethical, responsible and take care of the business at hand."

The mayor did not include White in her remarks.

White answers criticism

White and his family are longtime Riverbank residents. He has opposed attempts to raise fees and has questioned city spending. He has been criticized for missing special council meetings and city functions such as the recent opening of the teen center and the Christmas parade.

"I agree," he said. "I do need to show up. There's no reason I should have missed the Christmas parade."

He has provided some lighter moments at council meetings.

As one January meeting wrapped up, council members made their concluding remarks, which typically concern their official duties. White invited everyone to Cool Hand Luke's the next day to help him celebrate his 22nd birthday.

White also is impressed with the new council. He said it took a little time to accept that he would be sitting on the council dais with two women who tried to remove him from office.

"This is probably the most working together or respectful council I've been part of in my short time," he said.

One criticism of the new council has surfaced. Some have said Madueño, Nygard and Tucker are too close and will vote as a bloc. Madueño supported both women in their council campaigns.

Madueño said the criticism is unfounded.

"We are strong women, smart women," she said. "We did not get here on the backs of each other. I'm looking for healthy debate on this council."

Bee staff writer Kevin Valine can be reached at kvaline@modbee.com or 578-2316.

Green Business Networking Luncheon Series – Sustainable Local Investment Partners will host this event featuring DOMA Coffee Roasting Company owner Rebecca Hurlen Patano and her husband, Terry, who will discuss the sustainability ethic on which they built their business. 11:30 a.m.-1:15 p.m. at the Spokane Convention Center, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. $18. Tickets available in advance by calling (509) 209-2861, at the door or online at www.brownpapertickets.com /event/158936.

Gonzaga University Aram Lecture on Business Ethics – Annual event will feature Manuel Velasquez, the Charles J. Dirksen Professor of Business Ethics at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business. He will discuss “All Men Are One: Ethics, Globalization and Business.” 7-8:30 p.m., Wolff Auditorium of the Jepson Center, Gonzaga University campus. Information: (509) 313-5991.

“Is the Recovery Happening?” – Economist John Mitchell will discuss the long climb back to a healthy economy, prospects and risks for 2011. Networking begins at 7:15 a.m., presentation at 8 a.m. at the Spokane Club, 1002 W. Riverside Ave. $25, includes breakfast. Reservations are required: (509) 838-8511.

Financial Recordkeeping – SCORE, Counselors to America's Small Business, is presenting a workshop that will discuss how to keep good business records and how to understand and use financial statements as business management tools, 8:30 a.m.-noon at 801 W. Riverside Ave., Suite 444. $40 in advance or $50 at the door. Call (509) 353-2821 to register.

Valley Resource Trade Show – Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce member businesses and services will offer product demonstrations, sales, prize drawings and live radio interviews with exhibitors. Workshops will include: “Making a Profit with Social Media” workshop at 1 p.m. and “Present Yourself in the Best Light” workshop at 2 p.m. After Hours Networking, 5-7 p.m., sponsored by Mountain West Bank. 2-7 p.m., Mirabeau Park Hotel and Convention Center, 1100 N. Sullivan Road, Spokane Valley. Information or to register: www.spokanevalleychamber.org or (509) 924-4994. Admission is free; Workshops are $25 each or both for $35.

“Open for Business: Making the Best of Rough Road Construction” – The City of Spokane and the Greater Spokane Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America will host this workshop for business owners and managers, located along planned local street and utility construction project sites, to help them plan for and manage the disruptive impacts of street construction. 7:30-9 a.m. in the City Council Chambers, lower level of City Hall, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. Information: www.DevelopingSpokane.org.

A Night Out with Toastmasters – Learn more about this global organization which promotes communication and leadership. 5-9 p.m. at Round Table Pizza, 4510 S. Regal St. Information: (509) 279-3011 or email estagr@hotmail.com.

Would high-speed rail spending add jobs in the United States? Of course.

Even if some of the rolling stock for the trains were imported, structures and other permanent way would still have to be built in the United States. Under current conditions, any government spending would contribute to job creation.

Fears that government spending might displace or crowd out private-sector capital formation would be justified were we at or close to capacity. But we are not.

The unemployment rate remains almost 10 percent, and this doesnt account for those who, discouraged, have left the workforce.

Even more telling is the ratio of employment to population, which has fallen from its all-time high of over 64 percent in 1999 to 58 percent today.

For a variety of reasons, including the recent financial crisis, the U.S. economy remains in a serious slump. High-speed rail spending could stimulate job growth.

| Alexander J. Field, Santa Clara University

The only area in the United States with enough population to make high-speed rail feasible is the Northeast Corridor.

But even here the cost would be daunting.

Acquiring enough land through eminent domain actions and constructing the high-tech rails needed for a Northeast high-speed rail line likely would be prohibitively expensive.

Amtraks current estimate  which many experts consider a decidedly low-ball one  says it would take 25 years and cost $117 billion.

Unfortunately, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and other Obama higher-ups still view rail travel through a 1950 lens of nostalgia, when one could enjoy the overnight luxury of the 20th Century Limited  leaving Grand Central Station in the evening and disembarking the next morning in downtown Chicago.

Those days  like Alfred Hitchcock, who had Cary Grant and Eva-Marie Saint do just that in his 1959 thriller North by Northwest  are long gone.

Students continue trend of applying to more colleges | View Clip03/20/2011Los Angeles Times - Online

Given what appears to be a tightly competitive year in college admissions, Katie Frake of Long Beach hedged her bets by applying to 11 schools.

"I figured it would be the safest thing, the best thing. So I applied to a bunch because I wanted to be sure I would get into someplace I like," said the 17- year-old Wilson High School senior, whose application list includes UCLA, Stanford, Santa Clara University and the University of Chicago.

Frake is far from alone with those concerns as she and other students hover around their mailboxes and computers this month to await admission decisions.

The number of high school seniors in the U.S. was stable or fell in 2010 in many states. But students continued a trend of applying to more schools on average, and many prestigious colleges saw applications rise 7% or more for incoming freshman classes.

The result is somewhat tougher competition and more uncertainty. And it has intensified the national debate about the ethics of colleges recruiting ever more applicants.

A recent study by the National Assn. for College Admission Counseling found that median acceptance rates had dropped 10% at private, nonprofit four-year colleges and 7% at public schools from 2001 to 2008. Many experts expect that trend to continue this year, creating more stress for students and parents, the report said.

Continuing a decade-long trend, many competitive schools reported increases in applications this admission season. For example, USC says its applications are up 3%; Stanford University, 7%; the University of Washington, 7%; Boston College, 10%; Loyola Marymount University, 12%; and the University of Pennsylvania, 18%. In its first year of using the online Common Application, which makes it easier for students to apply to multiple schools, the University of Michigan's applications jumped 20%.

More than 106,000 applied for freshman admission to at least one University of California campus, a 5.7% rise over last year.

In California, uncertainty over possible enrollment cuts in the UC and California State University systems is pushing students who might not have considered private colleges to apply to some, as well as to out-of-state public campuses, counselors say. And with high unemployment, many families are broadening their search for a good financial aid package.

"It definitely is tougher," Brandi Bakewell, a college counselor at the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, a public magnet school, said of the admissions situation. She encouraged her current seniors to apply to at least four Cal States, four UCs and several private campuses "just to be on the safe side," she said.

Students using the increasingly popular Common Application sought admission on average to 4.53 campuses for the coming fall term, up from 4.32 for current college freshmen. That increase may seem small but could be significant at some schools, according to Rob Killion, the Common Application's executive director. About 525,000 students used the service and 414 colleges participated this year.

In a national survey, UCLA researchers found that 17.8 % of current college freshmen had applied to eight or more colleges, up from 15.9% the previous year and 7.8% a decade ago.

Some counselors say the Common Application's ease encourages some frivolous applications, making it harder for colleges to figure out how many offers of enrollment will result in students showing up to fill classes and dorms. Critics also blame the jump in numbers on colleges' aggressive recruiting tactics, including waived fees and "no sweat" applications with much of the information filled in at some schools.

By boosting applications and turning away more, colleges try to raise their national rankings, which are partly based on selectivity, according to Lloyd Thacker, executive director of the Education Conservancy, a think tank that has criticized admissions practices. "The commercialization of college admissions has created a crisis in distorting educational values," he said.

In addition, families are increasingly focused on the small number of the most prestigious colleges, said Barmak Nassirian, a spokesman for the American Assn. of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. "The kind of students who aspire to the Ivy League or to schools like UC is increasing," he said.

(Schools such as Stanford and many Ivy League campuses accept fewer than 10% of applicants. But about 80% of four-year colleges accept more than half of their applicants, and counselors urge students to consider the less selective campuses, saying a good education can also be found there.)

At Boston College, undergraduate admissions director John Mahoney said his school did not use any of the criticized recruiting techniques, such as sending applicants forms that are all but completed. Instead, he said his numbers were up because of the Common Application and because the college had tried to attract a wider geographic pool, including from overseas.

But he and other experts said they didn't see the upward trend ending soon. "We are in this vicious circle. The process is fueling itself," Mahoney said.

Fears about UC and Cal State cutbacks may be pushing more California applicants to turn to private institutions such as Loyola Marymount, suggested Matthew Fissinger, the Westchester university's undergraduate admissions director. Still, he said, he wishes colleges could persuade high school seniors "to calm down and realize they don't have to apply to 15 colleges."

As the decision time nears, Long Beach student Frake says she has been accepted by UCLA, the University of San Francisco and the University of Rochester; was put on the waiting list at Washington University in St. Louis; and is awaiting word from seven others. Despite all the essays she had to write, she has no regrets.

I know it might sound weird but ethics and egoism go hand-in-hand. They have a lot more in common than the fact that they both have 6 letters and begin with the letter, "E." When you think of ethics you likely think of people doing the right thing to make the world better and thinking generously of the needs of others. Yet, when you analyze why people make the ethical decisions that they do, more often than not, they are considering self-interest (that is, egoism). Here's what I mean. I just completed teaching an ethics course at Santa Clara University where I have taught this particular class yearly for almost 20 years. I also teach a somewhat similar course at Stanford University. I begin every class session with the question, "What ethical dilemmas have you had in the past 24-36 hours?" Once students identify an ethical dilemma or two, I ask them what moral principles (e.g., justice, common good, utilitarian, virtue, egoism, and so forth) from moral philosophy they used to decide how they should respond to their particular ethical dilemma. Egoism, every time, comes up as an important principle that they use to decide how to resolve an ethical conflict. Yes, that's right, egoism is considered every time without exception! Other ethical approaches are used too but not as consistently as egoism. Related Links Altruism in the Service of Narcissism Why think about ethics? Moral Mistakes Selective Omni-moralism: How to be completely moral and do anything you want Raising a Moral Child: It doesn't take a village, it takes a city! Find a Therapist Search for a mental health professional near you. Find Local: Acupuncturists Chiropractors Massage Therapists Dentists and more! This is not surprising. Self interest motivates many of our behaviors...even our gracious and generous ones. Sometimes, altruism really is in the service of narcissism . For example, people may donate money to a worthy charity to feel less guilty about not helping out more or perhaps to see their name on a donor's publication list (or on the front of a building), or perhaps they just don't want to argue with the person making the request. People might volunteer to help others in need (e.g., work at a soup kitchen) to earn community service credits for a course or to improve their resume. Frequently young people today engage in volunteer work in order to improve their odds at admission into a selective college or graduate program. People might behave in a generous manner to impress their family, friends, or a potential mate. Watch how men behave on a first date with children, animals, and those in need compared to how they might behave later in a relationship. So, is ethical behavior for egoism reasons bad? In my view, not at all! We live in a world that is ethically challenged to say the least. So, if we can find a way (any way for any reason) to behave more ethically, regardless of the motives, we end up with a better world for all. If people want to behave ethically and do nice things for others for selfish reasons I say "bring it on!" The world will be a better place for it regardless of the motives. So, ethics and egoism: two peas in a pod...but it can work. What do you think? Tweet Have a comment? Start the discussion here! Tags: altruism , class session , doing the right thing , egoism , ethical approaches , ethical conflict , ethical decisions , ethical dilemma , ethical dilemmas , ethics , letter e , moral philosophy , moral principles , morals , narcissism , publication list , santa clara university , self interest , self-interest , soup kitchen , stanford university , virtue , volunteer work , worthy charity

Location: 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95050 When:
April 12, 2011
Time: 10:00am–4:00pm
The American Red Cross, Northern California Region, Mobile Blood Drives will be open to the public beginning in April. The mobile clinic will be at Santa Clara University on Tuesday, April 12th from 10am to 4pm in the Mission California Room. For more information call 1-800-RED CROSS ( 1-800-733-2767) or go to redcrossblood.org . Please use the Sponsor Code: SCU to schedule an appointment.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.  EDITOR'S NOTE: The writer is addressing the question, Can high-speed rail boost the U.S. economy?

Would high-speed rail spending add jobs in the United States? Of course.

Even if some of the rolling stock for the trains were imported, structures and other permanent way would still have to be built in the United States. Under current conditions, any government spending—for rails, for bridges, for highways, for the military—would contribute to job creation.

Fears that government spending might displace or crowd out private-sector capital formation would be justified were we at or close to capacity. But we are not.

The unemployment rate remains almost 10 percent, and this doesn't account for those who, discouraged, have simply left the workforce.

Even more telling is the ratio of employment to population, which has fallen from its all-time high of over 64 percent in 1999 to 58 percent today. In spite of large “supply side” tax cuts tilted toward the wealthy, the record of the George W. Bush presidency on job creation was in fact quite poor.

For a variety of reasons, including the recent financial crisis, the U.S. economy remains in a serious slump. High-speed rail spending could stimulate job growth and help jump start the economy.

These projects would, of course, add to the deficit and concerns about its long-term growth, particularly that attributable to health care, are merited.

Looking back over the last three decades, however, Republicans' interests in deficit reduction seems to have waxed and waned depending upon who occupied the White House.

The deficit ballooned under Bush, due largely to tax cuts but also to increases in military spending and a new unfunded prescription drug benefit. The resulting run-up in the debt was regrettable, but the time to cut government spending is when the economy is strong, not when it is weak.

If the country is going to incur new debt, it is better to do so to acquire well-chosen infrastructure and equipment than to fund consumption.

Would high-speed rail represent well-chosen infrastructure? In other words, would it help the U.S. “win the future?” This is a more complex question. It requires us to consider not simply whether such projects would help close the output gap, but whether and how effectively they would expand the potential output of the economy.

Here there are legitimate concerns about whether the U.S. has enough high-density corridors—such as that between Boston and Washington—to yield large benefits.

And building in dense areas can be costly. For example, the proposed Los Angeles to San Francisco route would go right through my backyard in Palo Alto, and the extent to which that part of the route will or will not be put underground has become a contentious political issue.

That said, state and federal governments have a long and largely successful record of supporting infrastructure development, from the Erie Canal to regional and transcontinental railroads to the Interstate Highway System and, more recently, to the Internet.

The build-out of the surface road network during the Great Depression generated large private-sector benefits, contributing to very fast productivity growth in transportation—railroads and trucking—as well as in wholesale and retail distribution.

High-speed rail projects could certainly create jobs and stimulate the economy in the short run. Whether they would generate benefits similar to those of other government funded infrastructure projects is uncertain. History suggests, however, that there's a good chance they would.

AMERICA NOW HAS THE WORLDS INTERNATIONAL ELITE'$ UNLIMITED CORPORATIONAL SLU$H MONIES

THAT WILL CONTINUE FLOWING INTO THESE UNREGULATED 501C4 SLU$H ACCOUNTS NATION~WIDE THAT WIL BE USED IN PURCHASING KARL ROVE STYLE SWIFT BOAT ATTACK ADS ALL ACROSS VARIOUS MEDIA

OUTLETS.

THESE 501C4 SLU$H FINANCED ATTACK ADS OF COURSE ARE NOT SOLELY LIMITED TO JUST OUR NATIONAL FEDERAL ELECTIONS !! THESE UNLIMITED CORP SLU$H FUND$ will CONTINUE TO ALSO BE DIRECTED INTO OUR VARIOUS little American STATE ELECTIONS NATION~WIDE. MOST ALL AMERICANS HAVE NOT EVEN A CLUE THAT THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED IN OUR LAST ELECTION WITH A TURN~OVER of 700 REPUBLICANS BEING ELECTED IN STATE HOUSES all ACROSS AMERICA !!!

WALL STREET JOURNAL

FDIC's Tab For Failed

U.S. Banks

Nears $9 Billion

U.S. banking regulators have paid out nearly $9 billion to cover losses on loans and other assets at 165 failed institutions that were sold to stronger companies during the financial crisis.

The payments were made under loss-sharing agreements struck by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that shield buyers from much of the risk associated with loans inherited from failed banks. The deals, covering everything from empty Las Vegas shopping centers to nearly worthless mortgages in Florida, are a reminder of the price tag attached to many government programs launched near the worst of the crisis.

As the number of bank failures surged, FDIC officials dangled loss-share arrangements as an incentive for banks to acquire institutions and then work to improve the value of their assets over time.

As of Jan. 31, the latest month for which figures are available, the FDIC has paid out $8.89 billion to banks under the loss-share agreements. Such deals are in place at 236 financial institutions, with the FDIC agreeing to assume most future losses on $160 billion of assets.

FDIC officials expect to make an additional $21.5 billion in payments from 2011 to 2014. More than half of that total is predicted for this year, followed by an estimated $6 billion in loss-share reimbursements in 2012, according to the agency. Some of the loss-share deals will be in place for 10 years.

The payments to date are smaller than FDIC officials anticipated, and they say it would cost much more to liquidate the mountain of bad loans at fair-market value. The FDIC said Wednesday that it couldn't be more specific about its previous estimates for future payouts because the agency continually revises those estimates based on new loss-share deals and claims submitted under existing arrangements.

"The process is working," said James Wigand, who oversaw FDIC sales of failed banks during the crisis and leads a new division of the agency responsible for the largest U.S. banks. Enticing new owners to work out troubled assets slowly "minimized the effects of a bank's failure on local communities," he added.Some executives at U.S. banks that bought failed institutions using the FDIC lifeline agreed that losses on the troubled loans aren't piling up as high or as fast as they previously anticipated.

The program helped the FDIC's deposit-insurance fund, drained by 350 failures since the start of 2007, avoid even worse calamity, he said. The fund had a balance of negative $7.4 billion as of Dec. 31, though that was an improvement from the $20 billion hole it was in at the end of 2009. About 2,100 financial institutions failed during the banking industry's last big crisis in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The biggest stream of reimbursements, $1.21 billion in all, has gone to BankUnited Inc., of Miami Lakes, Fla. Its private-equity owners resurrected a similarly named savings institution that collapsed in 2009 under the weight of home loans made before the housing bust. The FDIC is on the hook to cover as much as 95% of losses on some loans at BankUnited, which went public in January.

Bloomberg News

BankUnited has received $1.21 billion from the FDIC.

Those were some of the sweetest terms offered by the FDIC, which became less generous as more banks scrambled to buy failed financial institutions. Regulators have seized and sold 25 financial institutions this year, down from 30 in the same period last year. Among deals for this year's 25 institutions, 11 didn't include any loss-sharing protection.

"We are getting better performance than we thought due to a combination of ways that these loans are getting settled," said John Kanas, BankUnited's chairman, president and chief executive. As a result, the company expects to seek total payments of roughly $4 billion from the FDIC, a decline of about $1 billion.

To get money from the U.S. government, bankers must provide detailed documentation about the soured loans and efforts made to seek payment from the borrower. Approved claims are paid out of the deposit-insurance fund, which is funded by required contributions from the nation's 7,657 banks and thrifts.

FDIC officials record the expected losses on troubled loans when the failed bank that owns the assets is sold. Mr. Wigand said the agency "periodically" adjusts its loss estimates "because of changing market conditions and how much of the portfolios have been resolved."

The downside protection of loss-share arrangements gives banks potential to make a strong profit on the detritus inherited from doomed institutions. Those odds will become more favorable if borrowers start repaying their debts as the U.S. economy improves.

"When we did our very first [failed-bank] deal, we thought it was nuclear winter," said Dennis Zember, chief financial officer at Ameris Bancorp, the Moultrie, Ga., buyer of six banks seized by regulators. "We didn't think we'd collect anything" from some borrowers.

Ameris executives now expect to finish cleaning up 70% of the loan portfolios at the failed banks by year end. As of Jan. 31, the FDIC had paid Ameris a total of $26 million for losses at three failed banks.

BB&T Corp., of Winston-Salem, N.C., has received $1.09 billion in reimbursements for soured loans it got in the 2009 takeover of Colonial BancGroup Inc.'s failed banking operations. Colonial, of Montgomery, Ala., is the fifth-largest bank failure in U.S. history.

"We are very pleased that our efforts have resulted in the portfolio performing better than our original estimates," said a BB&T spokeswoman. Many of Colonial's loans were concentrated in Florida construction and land development.

U.S. Bancorp has collected $594.2 million under loss-share deals struck by the Minneapolis bank when it bought PFF Bancorp's PFF Bank & Trust in Pomona, Calif., in 2008 and FBOP Corp.'s California National Bank in 2009. A U.S. Bancorp spokesman didn't return phone calls for comment.

As of January, seven banks with loss-share deals had no reimbursements from the FDIC. The biggest: OneWest Bank FSB, Pasadena, Calif., which bought the loan portfolio of failed IndyMac Bank FSB. OneWest executives declined to comment on the company's loss-sharing arrangement.

Write to Robin Sidel at robin.sidel (at) wsj.com

LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS IS A INDEPENDENT VOLUNTEER WWW LOBBY THAT SINGS OUT FOR OUR AMERICAN MIDDLE~CLASS AND POORER AMERICANS LIVING IN OUR WEALTHY ELITE'S COUNTRY.

WE CAN BE FOUND WITH ANY WEB SEARCH ENGINE BY OUR NAME,TELEPHONE NUMBER OR E MAIL ADDRESS.

GOOGLE, YAHOO, AOL,MSN,BING..ETC..ALL CARRY OUR PREVIOUS WRITTEN COMMENTARY WITH VARIOUS DIFFERENT LISTINGS.

WE ENJOY BRINGING ALL OUR fellow little Americans THE GOOD LIFE OVER THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITIES IDE WORLD OF THE WEB.

AMERICA NOW HAS THE WORLDS INTERNATIONAL ELITE'$ UNLIMITED CORPORATIONAL SLU$H MONIES

THAT WILL CONTINUE FLOWING INTO THESE UNREGULATED 501C4 SLU$H ACCOUNTS NATION~WIDE THAT WIL BE USED IN PURCHASING KARL ROVE STYLE SWIFT BOAT ATTACK ADS ALL ACROSS VARIOUS MEDIA OUTLETS...

THESE 501C4 SLU$H FINANCED ATTACK ADS OF COURSE ARE NOT SOLELY LIMITED TO JUST OUR NATIONAL FEDERAL ELECTIONS !! THESE UNLIMITED CORP SLU$H FUND$ will CONTINUE TO ALSO BE DIRECTED INTO OUR VARIOUS little American STATE ELECTIONS NATION~WIDE. MOST ALL AMERICANS HAVE NOT EVEN A CLUE THAT THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED IN OUR LAST ELECTION WITH A TURN~OVER of 700 REPUBLICANS BEING ELECTED IN STATE HOUSES all ACROSS AMERICA !!!

WALL STREET JOURNAL

FDIC's Tab For Failed

U.S. Banks

Nears $9 Billion

U.S. banking regulators have paid out nearly $9 billion to cover losses on loans and other assets at 165 failed institutions that were sold to stronger companies during the financial crisis.

The payments were made under loss-sharing agreements struck by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that shield buyers from much of the risk associated with loans inherited from failed banks. The deals, covering everything from empty Las Vegas shopping centers to nearly worthless mortgages in Florida, are a reminder of the price tag attached to many government programs launched near the worst of the crisis.

As the number of bank failures surged, FDIC officials dangled loss-share arrangements as an incentive for banks to acquire institutions and then work to improve the value of their assets over time.

As of Jan. 31, the latest month for which figures are available, the FDIC has paid out $8.89 billion to banks under the loss-share agreements. Such deals are in place at 236 financial institutions, with the FDIC agreeing to assume most future losses on $160 billion of assets.

FDIC officials expect to make an additional $21.5 billion in payments from 2011 to 2014. More than half of that total is predicted for this year, followed by an estimated $6 billion in loss-share reimbursements in 2012, according to the agency. Some of the loss-share deals will be in place for 10 years.

The payments to date are smaller than FDIC officials anticipated, and they say it would cost much more to liquidate the mountain of bad loans at fair-market value. The FDIC said Wednesday that it couldn't be more specific about its previous estimates for future payouts because the agency continually revises those estimates based on new loss-share deals and claims submitted under existing arrangements.

"The process is working," said James Wigand, who oversaw FDIC sales of failed banks during the crisis and leads a new division of the agency responsible for the largest U.S. banks. Enticing new owners to work out troubled assets slowly "minimized the effects of a bank's failure on local communities," he added.Some executives at U.S. banks that bought failed institutions using the FDIC lifeline agreed that losses on the troubled loans aren't piling up as high or as fast as they previously anticipated.

The program helped the FDIC's deposit-insurance fund, drained by 350 failures since the start of 2007, avoid even worse calamity, he said. The fund had a balance of negative $7.4 billion as of Dec. 31, though that was an improvement from the $20 billion hole it was in at the end of 2009. About 2,100 financial institutions failed during the banking industry's last big crisis in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The biggest stream of reimbursements, $1.21 billion in all, has gone to BankUnited Inc., of Miami Lakes, Fla. Its private-equity owners resurrected a similarly named savings institution that collapsed in 2009 under the weight of home loans made before the housing bust. The FDIC is on the hook to cover as much as 95% of losses on some loans at BankUnited, which went public in January.

Bloomberg News

BankUnited has received $1.21 billion from the FDIC.

Those were some of the sweetest terms offered by the FDIC, which became less generous as more banks scrambled to buy failed financial institutions. Regulators have seized and sold 25 financial institutions this year, down from 30 in the same period last year. Among deals for this year's 25 institutions, 11 didn't include any loss-sharing protection.

"We are getting better performance than we thought due to a combination of ways that these loans are getting settled," said John Kanas, BankUnited's chairman, president and chief executive. As a result, the company expects to seek total payments of roughly $4 billion from the FDIC, a decline of about $1 billion.

To get money from the U.S. government, bankers must provide detailed documentation about the soured loans and efforts made to seek payment from the borrower. Approved claims are paid out of the deposit-insurance fund, which is funded by required contributions from the nation's 7,657 banks and thrifts.

FDIC officials record the expected losses on troubled loans when the failed bank that owns the assets is sold. Mr. Wigand said the agency "periodically" adjusts its loss estimates "because of changing market conditions and how much of the portfolios have been resolved."

The downside protection of loss-share arrangements gives banks potential to make a strong profit on the detritus inherited from doomed institutions. Those odds will become more favorable if borrowers start repaying their debts as the U.S. economy improves.

"When we did our very first [failed-bank] deal, we thought it was nuclear winter," said Dennis Zember, chief financial officer at Ameris Bancorp, the Moultrie, Ga., buyer of six banks seized by regulators. "We didn't think we'd collect anything" from some borrowers.

Ameris executives now expect to finish cleaning up 70% of the loan portfolios at the failed banks by year end. As of Jan. 31, the FDIC had paid Ameris a total of $26 million for losses at three failed banks.

BB&T Corp., of Winston-Salem, N.C., has received $1.09 billion in reimbursements for soured loans it got in the 2009 takeover of Colonial BancGroup Inc.'s failed banking operations. Colonial, of Montgomery, Ala., is the fifth-largest bank failure in U.S. history.

"We are very pleased that our efforts have resulted in the portfolio performing better than our original estimates," said a BB&T spokeswoman. Many of Colonial's loans were concentrated in Florida construction and land development.

U.S. Bancorp has collected $594.2 million under loss-share deals struck by the Minneapolis bank when it bought PFF Bancorp's PFF Bank & Trust in Pomona, Calif., in 2008 and FBOP Corp.'s California National Bank in 2009. A U.S. Bancorp spokesman didn't return phone calls for comment.

As of January, seven banks with loss-share deals had no reimbursements from the FDIC. The biggest: OneWest Bank FSB, Pasadena, Calif., which bought the loan portfolio of failed IndyMac Bank FSB. OneWest executives declined to comment on the company's loss-sharing arrangement.

Write to Robin Sidel at robin.sidel (at) wsj.com

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A well-known producer behind the Palm Springs International Film Festival awards gala says he was rejected by Desert Hot Springs.

Richard DeSantis, who produced his 10th gala on Jan. 8, told The Desert Sun he emailed and had follow-up phone calls with city leaders about his interest in producing the city's first Wellness and World Music Festival before the city chose Clarke.

“I was kind of surprised when I sent an email and called that they didn't at least say, ‘Sure, why don't you submit something?'” he said.

DeSantis said he never submitted a proposal because he was told the city already planned to hire another company.

“I was disappointed. I just figured, well, that was their decision and whatever criteria they used, it obviously was important to them,” he said. “I would love to have done it.”

City Manager Rick Daniels said he does not remember receiving an email from DeSantis and city records would not date back that far to retrieve any possible emails.

“A call does not a serious proposal make,” Daniels said.

DeSantis has worked on the La Quinta Arts Festival for about 15 years as a board member and lists about 15 years with the Bob Hope Classic gala on his résumé.

He also coordinated the Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards gala held March 12.

The city ended its agreement with Tony Clarke, who won the contract, last week after work on the festival stalled. “In retrospect, maybe they should have hired me,” DeSantis said.

Desert Hot Springs strayed from its own city code when it gave a $250,000 contract to a festival promoter without soliciting other bids.

The city skipped a series of steps outlined in its municipal code that call for a competitive recruitment process and thorough vetting of potential contractors before signing a consulting or professional services contract.

The Desert Sun reviewed the code and spotted the violation days before the City Council is expected to consider what city staff has called “an abbreviated open solicitation” to replace Tony Clarke.

Last week, the city ended its contract with Clarke, who was paid $250,000 in taxpayer funds to produce the twice-delayed Wellness and World Music Festival.

The city did not solicit bids before hiring Clarke in December 2009 and did not verify his claims of being an internationally known producer.

Under the plan to replace him recommended by city staff, potential promoters will have 10 days to submit their proposals for how they would produce such a festival.

This is a significantly shorter amount of time than the six-week solicitation period the city offered for its most recent project that went out to bid, the Community Health and Wellness Center.

“When you're trying to fast-track something that has already started off on the wrong foot, you're almost inviting a problem,” said Judy Nadler, former mayor of Santa Clara and a senior fellow in Government Ethics at Santa Clara University.

Desert Hot Springs City Manager Rick Daniels — who recommended the council skip the bidding process in 2009 and is now recommending the quick solicitation period — says the city “satisfied the intent of the code” by discussing the festival at a series of open council sessions.

“To hang the failure on detailed compliance with a municipal code provision misses so much, including the bad economy for all entertainment, let alone a first-time one,” Daniels wrote in an email Friday to The Desert Sun.

“Knowing now what we do, with 18 months of history, would the city do it differently? Of course. Is the city going forward with a better approach? Of course.”

City Attorney Ruben Duran declined to comment on whether the city violated its own code or what penalties the city could face.

About the code

The city missed “very important due diligence” and “raised some pretty significant red flags” by skipping the bidding process, said Nadler.

As a graduate of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, Nadler speaks on public contracting and city ethics to groups like the League of California Cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

“I'm just very curious as to how it is that the city decided they would forgo this,” she said. “It doesn't make sense, I can't see what the circumstance would be for doing that,” she added.

On Oct. 20, 2009, concerns about skipping the bid process were raised, but overruled, when the council first gave Daniels authority to begin negotiating a contract with Clarke.

It was also the same day the council reviewed a 12-page feasibility report Clarke was paid $15,000 to write.

Mayor Pro Tem Russell Betts, who cast the lone dissenting vote against negotiations with Clarke, cited a need to solicit other bids.

Other promoters had expressed interest, Betts said, and the city needed to see what it could get for its $250,000 before signing the deal.

“As I view my role (I am) trying to watch and make sure the taxpayers' dollar is safeguarded. We have not gone through this process,” Betts said before the vote.

That process, as outlined in the municipal code, calls for city staff to circulate a request for proposals to all companies that could be qualified.

The request should ask for background information about the contractor, including a list of completed projects and description of the largest project within the past five years, the code stipulates.

The firm also should have references ready to prove its “high ethical and professional standing,” the code stipulates.

The city did not require background information or references from Clarke.

Sufficient notice

Since the festival was first postponed in September, Daniels has offered varying explanations for why he did not solicit bids.

On Thursday, in an email to The Desert Sun, he said interested promoters had sufficient notice because of the media coverage of the festival.

“That resulted in far greater coverage than a posting on the city webpage or an ad in some trade journal,” Daniels wrote.

“It was no secret that the city was undertaking this effort and anyone could come forward and identify themselves as qualified and interested. They did not.”

At least one potential promoter, however, says he did contact Daniels but was turned away.

Richard DeSantis — a well-known producer of Coachella Valley events — was surprised and disappointed Desert Hot Springs did not want a competitive bid process, he told The Desert Sun.

In prior comments, Daniels said he did not recommend the city solicit bids because the Community and Cultural Affairs Commission had approved of Clarke's company, Tresed Ventures.

The commission is a five-person panel appointed by the council. It meets monthly to recommend community services, public art and recreational programs.

It is Daniels, not the committee, that is hired to be the expert for the city, Nadler said.

“Somehow sort of shifting the responsibility back to the well-intentioned, but not necessarily well-informed citizens' advisory committee does not give you a free pass. It doesn't get you off the hook,” Nadler said. “As the city manager, you are responsible.”

At least one citizen says he's made note.

“Most residents of Desert Hot Springs are just appalled at the city leadership for getting us into this ridiculous situation. Our city is way too poor to be throwing away $265,000,” resident Randy Rice wrote in an email to The Desert Sun.

Public trust has already been shattered by the city's handling of the contract, and the decision to go with a shortened solicitation process now does not make sense, Nadler said. “With the burden right now, I would suggest to go, if you will, beyond what might be required and actually look at what would restore the public's confidence,” she said.

A well-known producer behind the Palm Springs International Film Festival awards gala says he was rejected by Desert Hot Springs.

Richard DeSantis, who produced his 10th gala on Jan. 8, told The Desert Sun he emailed and had follow-up phone calls with city leaders about his interest in producing the city's first Wellness and World Music Festival before the city chose Clarke.

“I was kind of surprised when I sent an email and called that they didn't at least say, ‘Sure, why don't you submit something?'” he said.

DeSantis said he never submitted a proposal because he was told the city already planned to hire another company.

“I was disappointed. I just figured, well, that was their decision and whatever criteria they used, it obviously was important to them,” he said. “I would love to have done it.”

City Manager Rick Daniels said he does not remember receiving an email from DeSantis and city records would not date back that far to retrieve any possible emails.

“A call does not a serious proposal make,” Daniels said.

DeSantis has worked on the La Quinta Arts Festival for about 15 years as a board member and lists about 15 years with the Bob Hope Classic gala on his résumé.

He also coordinated the Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards gala held March 12.

The city ended its agreement with Tony Clarke, who won the contract, last week after work on the festival stalled. “In retrospect, maybe they should have hired me,” DeSantis said.

Desert Hot Springs strayed from its own city code when it gave a $250,000 contract to a festival promoter without soliciting other bids.

The city skipped a series of steps outlined in its municipal code that call for a competitive recruitment process and thorough vetting of potential contractors before signing a consulting or professional services contract.

The Desert Sun reviewed the code and spotted the violation days before the City Council is expected to consider what city staff has called “an abbreviated open solicitation” to replace Tony Clarke.

Last week, the city ended its contract with Clarke, who was paid $250,000 in taxpayer funds to produce the twice-delayed Wellness and World Music Festival.

The city did not solicit bids before hiring Clarke in December 2009 and did not verify his claims of being an internationally known producer.

Under the plan to replace him recommended by city staff, potential promoters will have 10 days to submit their proposals for how they would produce such a festival.

This is a significantly shorter amount of time than the six-week solicitation period the city offered for its most recent project that went out to bid, the Community Health and Wellness Center.

“When you're trying to fast-track something that has already started off on the wrong foot, you're almost inviting a problem,” said Judy Nadler, former mayor of Santa Clara and a senior fellow in Government Ethics at Santa Clara University.

Desert Hot Springs City Manager Rick Daniels — who recommended the council skip the bidding process in 2009 and is now recommending the quick solicitation period — says the city “satisfied the intent of the code” by discussing the festival at a series of open council sessions.

“To hang the failure on detailed compliance with a municipal code provision misses so much, including the bad economy for all entertainment, let alone a first-time one,” Daniels wrote in an email Friday to The Desert Sun.

“Knowing now what we do, with 18 months of history, would the city do it differently? Of course. Is the city going forward with a better approach? Of course.”

City Attorney Ruben Duran declined to comment on whether the city violated its own code or what penalties the city could face.

About the code

The city missed “very important due diligence” and “raised some pretty significant red flags” by skipping the bidding process, said Nadler.

As a graduate of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, Nadler speaks on public contracting and city ethics to groups like the League of California Cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

“I'm just very curious as to how it is that the city decided they would forgo this,” she said. “It doesn't make sense, I can't see what the circumstance would be for doing that,” she added.

On Oct. 20, 2009, concerns about skipping the bid process were raised, but overruled, when the council first gave Daniels authority to begin negotiating a contract with Clarke.

It was also the same day the council reviewed a 12-page feasibility report Clarke was paid $15,000 to write.

Mayor Pro Tem Russell Betts, who cast the lone dissenting vote against negotiations with Clarke, cited a need to solicit other bids.

Other promoters had expressed interest, Betts said, and the city needed to see what it could get for its $250,000 before signing the deal.

“As I view my role (I am) trying to watch and make sure the taxpayers' dollar is safeguarded. We have not gone through this process,” Betts said before the vote.

That process, as outlined in the municipal code, calls for city staff to circulate a request for proposals to all companies that could be qualified.

The request should ask for background information about the contractor, including a list of completed projects and description of the largest project within the past five years, the code stipulates.

The firm also should have references ready to prove its “high ethical and professional standing,” the code stipulates.

The city did not require background information or references from Clarke.

Sufficient notice

Since the festival was first postponed in September, Daniels has offered varying explanations for why he did not solicit bids.

On Thursday, in an email to The Desert Sun, he said interested promoters had sufficient notice because of the media coverage of the festival.

“That resulted in far greater coverage than a posting on the city webpage or an ad in some trade journal,” Daniels wrote.

“It was no secret that the city was undertaking this effort and anyone could come forward and identify themselves as qualified and interested. They did not.”

At least one potential promoter, however, says he did contact Daniels but was turned away.

Richard DeSantis — a well-known producer of Coachella Valley events — was surprised and disappointed Desert Hot Springs did not want a competitive bid process, he told The Desert Sun.

In prior comments, Daniels said he did not recommend the city solicit bids because the Community and Cultural Affairs Commission had approved of Clarke's company, Tresed Ventures.

The commission is a five-person panel appointed by the council. It meets monthly to recommend community services, public art and recreational programs.

It is Daniels, not the committee, that is hired to be the expert for the city, Nadler said.

“Somehow sort of shifting the responsibility back to the well-intentioned, but not necessarily well-informed citizens' advisory committee does not give you a free pass. It doesn't get you off the hook,” Nadler said. “As the city manager, you are responsible.”

At least one citizen says he's made note.

“Most residents of Desert Hot Springs are just appalled at the city leadership for getting us into this ridiculous situation. Our city is way too poor to be throwing away $265,000,” resident Randy Rice wrote in an email to The Desert Sun.

Public trust has already been shattered by the city's handling of the contract, and the decision to go with a shortened solicitation process now does not make sense, Nadler said. “With the burden right now, I would suggest to go, if you will, beyond what might be required and actually look at what would restore the public's confidence,” she said.

Would high-speed rail spending add jobs in the United States? Of course.

Even if some of the rolling stock for the trains were imported, structures and other permanent way would still have to be built in the United States.

Under current conditions, any government spending -- for rails, for bridges, for highways, for the military -- would contribute to job creation.

Fears that government spending might displace or crowd out private-sector capital formation would be justified were we at or close to capacity. But we are not.

The unemployment rate remains almost 10 percent, and this doesn't account for those who, discouraged, have simply left the workforce.

Even more telling is the ratio of employment to population, which has fallen from its all-time high of more than 64 percent in 1999 to 58 percent today.

In spite of large "supply side" tax cuts tilted toward the wealthy, the record of the George W. Bush presidency on job creation was in fact quite poor.

For a variety of reasons, including the recent financial crisis, the U.S. economy remains in a serious slump.

High-speed rail spending could stimulate job growth and help jump start the economy.

These projects would, of course, add to the deficit, and concerns about its long term growth, particularly that attributable to health care, are merited.

Looking back over the last three decades, however, Republicans' interests in deficit reduction seems to have waxed and waned depending upon who occupied the White House.

The deficit ballooned under Bush, due largely to tax cuts but also to increases in military spending and a new unfunded prescription drug benefit.

The resulting run-up in the debt was regrettable, but the time to cut government spending is when the economy is strong, not when it is weak.

If the country is going to incur new debt, it is better to do so to acquire well-chosen infrastructure and equipment than to fund consumption.

Would high-speed rail represent well-chosen infrastructure? In other words, would it help the U.S. "win the future"?

This is a more complex question. It requires us to consider not simply whether such projects would help close the output gap, but whether and how effectively they would expand the potential output of the economy.

Here there are legitimate concerns about whether the U.S. has enough high density corridors -- such as that between Boston and Washington -- to yield large benefits.

And building in dense areas can be costly.

That said, state and federal governments have a long and largely successful record of supporting infrastructure development, from the Erie Canal to regional and transcontinental railroads to the interstate highway system and, more recently, to the Internet.

The build-out of the surface road network during the Great Depression generated large private-sector benefits, contributing to very fast productivity growth in transportation --railroads and trucking -- as well as in wholesale and retail distribution.

High-speed rail projects could certainly create jobs and stimulate the economy in the short run.

Whether they would generate benefits similar to those of other government funded infrastructure projects is uncertain.

History suggests, however, that there's a good chance they would.

Alexander J. Field is a professor of economics at Santa Clara University.

As consumers manage more of their lives via smartphones and iPads, financial service companies are trying to ensure they don't get lost in the electronic shuffle. "The industry right now is app crazy," says James McGovern, vice-president for consulting services at Corporate Insight, a firm that monitors the ways financial companies communicate with customers. "We're just going where the customers are," says Christopher Larkin, E*Trade Financial's (ETFC) senior vice-president for active trading. Bank of America's (BAC) online brokerage, Merrill Edge, is even exploring the idea of face-to-face teleconferencing between clients and advisers through the mobile apps it unveiled on Mar. 9, says Alok Prasad, the division's head.

Forrester Research estimates that more than 10 million Americans use mobile banking technology and that the number could rise to 50 million by 2015. Members of Generation X and Y make up about 75 percent of Forrester's current estimate of 10 million. While many of those consumers are comfortable using mobile apps to check their balances, companies need to work themselves more deeply into a mobile customer's financial life or the work that goes into developing all of these mobile apps may wind up being "another cost center," says Gartner (IT) analyst Stessa Cohen.

The "real potential" for mobile personal finance apps may come from linking investments and savings with spending in real time, says Ron Shevlin, senior analyst at the research firm Aite Group. Apps could track consumers' spending and investments while offering "personal finance management" by maintaining budgets and helping consumers "make smart decisions about how to finance a purchase," he says.

To do that, financial outfits have to get in on the front end of spending decisions. Such companies as Bank of America and Wells Fargo (WFC) have been testing mobile payment systems using smartphones in a small number of cities across the country. Last December, Wells Fargo started a pilot study with 200 employees in San Francisco. After a similar employee study last year, Bank of America on Mar. 28 will launch a mobile payment test with customers in New York, Atlanta, and San Francisco. Just as they would swipe a credit card, shoppers hold phones up to special readers to complete purchases. In addition to offering a convenient way to pay through credit or debit accounts, mobile phones could deliver instant coupons and other promotions to shoppers, says Arah Erickson, head of Wells Fargo's retail mobile banking division.

If closer connections with financial providers make it easier for consumers to see where their money goes, that could be a big positive, says Santa Clara University professor Meir Statman, an expert on behavioral finance and author of the book, What Investors Really Want. Such knowledge "really bolsters their self control" when out shopping, he says. Another outcome could be less positive, though. "People are more likely to trade more if it's made easier," he says. "What we know from studies is the more you trade, the more you are likely to lag behind people who buy and hold investments."

Thus far, 11 percent of investors use their brokerages' mobile offerings and about a quarter of those users trade through mobile platforms, says Forrester. E*Trade says about 3 percent to 4 percent of its trades are placed through mobile devices, and it will soon add trading of futures and mutual funds to its current lineup of stocks and options. TD Ameritrade (AMTD) has seen increased trading activity due to its mobile app, particularly in options trading, says Nicole Sherrod, managing director of TD Ameritrade's trader group. Nevertheless, she adds, the main goal isn't to boost trading immediately but to attract customers and position the firm for future growth. TD Ameritrade will launch its second iPad app in late April, she says, with this one aimed at long-term investors rather than traders.

Forrester analyst Bill Doyle doubts mobile offerings will stimulate much extra trading overall, but he does expect customers to shift holdings to companies with better mobile offerings. "Mobile devices are changing consumer's perceptions of how convenient financial transactions should be," says Wells Fargo's Erickson. "Today, convenience means the PC is across the room, and I don't feel like booting it up."

During my final years covering the religion beat for The Chronicle, there were months when I felt more like the paper's court reporter, or perhaps its sex crimes correspondent. The story of the child abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church had all the elements of sensational journalism - sexual perversion, spiritual hypocrisy and a shameless abuse of power. But in the end, the story wasn't as much about the crimes of pedophile priests as it was about the attempted cover-up by church leaders. It was a depressing and often tedious story to cover, especially the endless legal fallout that left some victims penniless, some lawyers rich and some Catholic dioceses filing for bankruptcy.

Those repressed memories came rushing back as I read investigative reporter Lisa Davis' impressive new book, "The Sins of Brother Curtis: A Story of Betrayal, Conviction, and the Mormon Church." In this narrative, the villain is not the Church of Rome but the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Yet the story's pretty much the same. Mormon Church leaders knew that Frank Curtis had a habitual need to molest young boys, yet they continued to place him in positions where he had access to more victims.

Davis finds her hero in a scrappy Seattle lawyer named Tim Kosnoff and tells the story through his eyes. This gives her complex tale a clear narrative line, but it also inspires the author to devote too many pages to the inevitable chain of boring depositions and minor court hearings that accompany third-party damage suits against defendants with deep pockets and too much to hide. This would have been a better book with 30 fewer pages.

That said, "The Sins of Brother Curtis" is a doggedly reported, cleverly organized and well-written book that can be both painful to read and hard to put down.

Davis, who has worked for SF Weekly and now teaches journalism at Santa Clara University, allows her readers to discover the grim details of Curtis' long, destructive life as Kosnoff uncovers them in his lengthy investigation.

It turns out there were at least 20 young victims, and Curtis found most of them by exploiting the Mormon community's trust, compassion and willingness to care for a lonely and seemingly harmless old man. Curtis, who was convicted of criminal sex abuse charges, died in 1995, three years before Kosnoff and plaintiff Jeremiah Scott filed their civil suit against the church. Curtis was in his 80s when he repeatedly molested 11-year-old Jeremiah in 1990 and 1991.

The book is most compelling in its early chapters, when Davis gives us a child's-eye view of what it's like to be courted and then sexually abused by an adult. "Bobby was unclear about exactly what had happened," she writes. "At the same time, a paralyzing mixture of panic and shame moved through his chest toward his stomach. He wanted to run away, become invisible, find a place where no one knew him." Later in the book, the story soars again when Davis recounts how an adult Bobby reacts when Kosnoff calls him decades later to ask if he remembers a guy named Frank Curtis.

Of course, it's harder to turn endless legal maneuvering into a page-turner. Yet Davis provides an enlightening (albeit repetitive) account of how the Mormon Church's lawyers tried to use "clergy-penitent privilege" as grounds for withholding any and all information about how the church dealt with Curtis, who was excommunicated and then re-baptized as a Mormon in good standing. One Mormon lawyer argues that "the law does not require churches to abandon the mission of saving sinners or to become mini-police states in order to avoid punitive damages."

As Kosnoff's case against the Mormon Church grows larger in scope, he and his partners bring in some heavy hitters - including Minneapolis lawyer Jeff Anderson, best known for litigating countless millions out of the Roman Catholic Church. According to lawyers familiar with both churches, the Mormons put up a relentless, scorched-earth defense - much more than the Catholic Church normally mounts. In the end, they say, the Catholic Church showed more compassion for its victims, apologizing and allowing them to be heard.

The book abruptly ends when Jeremiah Scott overrules his lawyers and settles out of court for $3 million. This keeps the Mormon Church from having to disclose detailed information about its vast financial assets and internal procedures. Other victims in a follow-up suit settle for much less, but we find out very little about those cases because Kosnoff agrees to keep the terms of that settlement secret.

Meanwhile, some of the men most damaged by the sins of Brother Curtis end up with nothing but lives full of despair and substance abuse. Then, Kosnoff turns his guns on the Catholics, settling a multi-victim damage suit for $46 million and sending the Diocese of Spokane into bankruptcy.

In the end, there are no clear winners in the case of Jeremiah Scott v. the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

SPECTRUM BATTLE HEATS UP ON HILL, AT FCC – The debate over wireless spectrum is about to get even hotter. Today marks the comment deadline for the FCC's NPRM on spectrum sharing, a process that essentially kicks off the bigger debate over incentive auctions. At the same time, we're hearing Capitol Hill is revving up its engine to weigh in with new hearings. The buzz on K Street is that a Senate Commerce subcommittee is prepping a hearing on spectrum around March 30, and we know Greg Walden hopes to tackle the issue at a telecom panel hearing in April – perhaps the second week of the month, some sources expect, before recess. We dig into the politics below the jump.

POLITICAL INTEL: BONO MACK EYEING PRIVACY HEARING – Look for the first of several privacy hearings to take place before Mary Bono Mack's Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade subcommittee following the Easter break, senior adviser Ken Johnson tells MT. It's a big issue for the congresswoman, who stressed in a statement late Thursday that Congress has to examine the effectiveness of current privacy laws, the transparency of privacy policies and the needs of children on the Web. “Even though we live in a nation where freedom is paramount, we have a responsibility, as policymakers, to protect those who are unable to protect themselves,” she said of children's privacy. We're tracking.

POKER PLAYERS ALLIANCE: LEGALIZATION ODDS LOOK GOOD – Former Sen. Al D'Amato, who heads up the Poker Players Alliance, predicts there's a “good chance” online poker legalization is on the horizon. “Last year we had an excellent chance, but when the president on the tax bill agreed to extend the Bush tax cuts, we decided not to gum up the works by putting a poker bill on it,” he told Dave Hansen in today's Q&A. “There's no chance to legalize sports gambling and we are not pushing it. No chance whatsoever. Online poker has the best chance because it is a skill game.” MORE HERE: http://politico.pro/ebDqdY

SUPPORT EXISTS IN SENATE – “I continue to support a closely regulated form of Internet poker because it protects consumers, raises revenue and creates jobs in the U.S.,” Bob Menendez told MT via statement this week. “I will work with my colleagues to make such a plan a reality,” added the senator, who introduced a legalization bill last year.

Happy Friday, time for your Morning Tech – where we've been impressed by some of the Xbox Kinect hacks we've seen of late. But this one is pretty intense: A few researchers combined the device with a laptop and some other tools to create a new way to help the blind account for objects on their path. Just check it out on Engadget: http://engt.co/h578KW

SPECTRUM COMMENTS DUE, FIGHT BEGINS – Comments on the FCC's spectrum NPRM are due today — and that's a big deal because the comments are the next step forward on proposals related to reallocating broadcasters' spectrum for wireless services.

--Expect NAB to file a lengthy response to the FCC's proposals. “Broadcasters are innovating and providing additional services to the public. ... The aspirations of these broadcasters should not be considered at odds with the goal of expanding access to broadband. Just the opposite: Broadcasting is a necessary, efficient and innovative complement to wireless broadband,” NAB plans to say. Channel-sharing and potential moves to the VHF band are among the proposals broadcasters will weigh in on today. And broadcasters want the FCC to assess new technologies that could “enhance the wireless industry's ability to use its existing spectrum resources more efficiently.”

--Of course, expect the wireless industry to make a case for incentive auctions to free up spectrum for mobile broadband. Stay tuned.

SPECTRUM ALSO A BUDGET THING – That's the political element underscoring the latest leg of the spectrum debate. Spectrum auctions can deliver big offsets, and Washington players know that entering a year in which austerity is the name of the political game. To some degree, history is on their side. Spectrum sales contributed key revenue to the '97 Balanced Budget Act, and delivered billions (via the DTV transition) in revenue as part of the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act, an industry source reminds MT. The takeaway: The budget battle is going to feature some talk of airwaves – and the upcoming House and Senate hearings could offer an early glimpse of that.

WHAT THE CR MEANS FOR TECH – The three-week plan approved this week keeps the government running until April 8, but it also takes the cleaver to a couple of programs at CPB, Commerce and NIST that matter to the tech and telecom crowds:

--Among the $6 billion in reductions getting the president's signature is a $50 million termination of two programs at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting – the Fiscal Stabilization Fund and the Radio Interconnection project. A CPB spokeswoman points out to MT, however, it does not request more funds for either program this year.

– Also slashed is the $19 million set aside for Public Telecommunications Facilities and Construction. It's a Commerce Department program, but it's one that helps stations build out and upgrade public broadcasting infrastructure. The loss of some of that money could affect station budgets moving forward, a CPB spokeswoman told MT.

--And NIST sees a total $67 million in cuts, but all target programs set up in 2010 via congressional earmarks. But it's important to note, given that the president hopes to boost NIST aid significantly – 16.9 percent from 2010 appropriations – as the White House pushes increases in federal research as key to economic recovery.

BUT THE R&D FIGHT MAY ONLY BE BEGINNING – Perhaps foreshadowing the political hurdles ahead was Wednesday's Senate subcommittee hearing on the R&D budget. Bill Nelson staunchly defended R&D investment even as some Republicans continue to mull whether to cut it as part of a larger congressional emphasis on austerity.

“If we're cutting out the R&D, you're starting to eat your seed corn so you don't have a crop to plant for next year,” said Nelson, who chairs the Science and Space subcommittee. GOP panel member John Boozman, though, offered a different take: “Here's our national challenge, how do we support America's spirit of innovation while being realistic that the federal government cannot keep up our current level of spending?” he asked. MORE, via Jen Martinez: http://politico.pro/elz3g6

DATA ROAMING, POLE ATTACHMENTS ON FCC'S APRIL AGENDA – An order that places data roaming on equal footing with voice roaming and one that could lower the price some telecommunications companies pay to attach equipment to roughly 50 million power poles are on the commission's tentative agenda released Thursday. The April 7 tentative agenda also includes an examination of the cost telecom companies pay local governments for rights of way and a look at the reliability of communications services during major disasters.

WILL NYT SUBSCRIPTIONS VIA IPHONE PIQUE REGULATORS' INTERESTS? – It's an interesting question, given the intense scrutiny that's being paid to Apple's efforts to take a 30 percent cut of subscriptions sold through its devices. Regulators most likely will take note of the Times news but understanding what it means will involve some digging, Eric Goldman, an associate law professor at Santa Clara University and director of the law school's High Tech Law Institute, told our Michelle Quinn. “We don't know whether the deal was made thanks to true market forces or some improper distortion,” he said.

LOBBYING BYTE: COX PICKS UP GOP, DEM HELP – The company now has the help of Dow Lohnes Government Strategies on telecom, cybersecurity and other industry issues, according to a disclosure filed March 1. Working Cox's case is a team that includes Stephen C. Sayle, formerly GOP counsel on House E&C; Eric S. Kessler, former CoS for John Dingell and Peter A. Leon, once an LD for Rep. Eliot Engel.

HAPPENING TODAY: MSFT AND TECH – Microsoft is teaming up with USA TODAY for a forum on “how to make a difference in education.” The event, held at the newspaper's HQ, will feature Sig Behrens, the GM of Microsoft U.S. Education. Behrens plans to speak about the importance of technology in the classroom. The forum will be webcast live: http://bit.ly/gHIWAe

ALSO TODAY: TOP STAKEHOLDERS TALK NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN – Former FCC-er Blair Levin, NTIA's Thomas Power, Comcast's Joe Waz, Verizon's Kathleen Grillo, FCC-er Ruth Milkman and others are on hand at Georgetown today to reflect on the year since the NBP was released. The event's being hosted by CCT and CITI: http://bit.ly/gHIWAe

TRIO GET TECH AWARD – Orrin Hatch, Mike McCaul and Zoe Lofgren are the 2011 recipients of the Semiconductor Industry Association's Congressional Leadership Award, which recognizes members of Congress supporting U.S. leadership in semiconductor design and manufacturing. Lofgren and McCaul's work includes reauthorization of the America Competes Act and advocating high-skilled immigration reform. McCaul also is founder and co-chair of the House High-Tech Caucus, said the group. Hatch is a “champion” for research and development tax reform, the group said.

SPEED READ, by Elizabeth Wasserman:

YAHOO LETS INTERNET USERS IN UK SEE HOW their data is used to target ads, FT reports: http://on.ft.com/i0CXac

Ethics and etiquette for bad behavior, boors and stinky food in coach at 30,000 feet.

Where else but on an airplane are people jammed into limited space and forced to share re-circulated air, not to mention bad behavior? One person leans back and encroaches on another. A neighbor's large belly or long legs extend into the space you paid for. One passenger's onion rings are polluting an entire row.

Travel in coach these days and expect to be infringed upon somehow. Stress, fatigue, thin air and the yearning to stretch out bring out the worst manners in many. Travelers do things they'd never do at home or in the office. Among strangers, they elbow each other over arm rests or splay legs to grab as much real estate as possible.

Frustrated and fatigued parents watch with resignation as their children kick seats or pound tray tables. Game-players and music listeners leave the volume up, never thinking that those around them must listen to their beat as well.

To some, the decline in civility aboard passenger jets coincides with a decline in airline service and comfort and an increase in airline rules and fees. By pushing seats closer together, filling middle seats far more frequently and replacing amenities with fees, airlines have helped bring out the worst in their customers.

"You're being put-upon in a way you shouldn't be in the first place," says Anna Post, etiquette expert at the Emily Post Institute and a frequent traveler herself. "Stressed, often rushed, you're cramped, in many cases tired and hungry, thirsty and bored. None of these are conducive to getting along with strangers in a tight environment."

[More from WSJ.com: Grin-and-Bear-It May Be the Best Course for Bad Manners on Flight]

Tolerance for intrusions varies. Some long-time travelers have adopted the attitude that if someone's legs stray into your legroom, kick back. Others say travelers have to have more tolerance for people with long legs that don't fit into tight airline seat pitch or large girth that won't squeeze into a 17.2-inch-wide seat.

"I think many frequent fliers try to take the approach that, 'We're all in this together for the next X hours' and try to make it work," says James Vesper, a platinum-level flyer on both Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL - News) and US Airways (NYSE: LCC - News).

And since airlines are filling their planes fuller than ever with passengers, frequent traveler Ron Goodenow has one suggestion: "I think it would be great if an airline, as part of its pre-flight announcement, said something like, 'We have a very crowded flight today folks. Please be kind to your neighbor.' "

Case Studies

1. You're in the middle seat, between two strangers. Who gets the armrests?

Anne Loew, veteran flight attendant: The folks in the aisle seat can lean toward the aisle, and the window-seat passenger has the window to lean on. The poor middle-seat passengers are suffering enough -- they get both armrests.

Gordon Bethune, former Continental Airlines chief executive: They do.

James Vesper, frequent traveler: The middle seat gets both arm rests.

Richard Wishner, frequent traveler: You share. The bigger guy gets the forward part of the armrest.

Anna Post, etiquette expert: There is no innate winner of the arm-rest battle. If I'm in the middle seat, I try to claim one. They are not both yours for the duration.

Kirk Hanson, Santa Clara University ethics professor: Fairness requires the allocation of at least one arm rest to each traveler. Therefore, the side seats get the "outbound" armrests away from the middle seat. The middle passenger gets both armrests, in part as compensation for the dreaded middle seat.

[More from WSJ.com: Delta Sends Its 11,000 Agents to Charm School]

2. A tall man sits down and his knees jut out wide, encroaching on your space.

Thom McDaniel, veteran flight attendant and union president: You are entitled to your space from armrest to armrest in the seat you purchased, so you should say something if anyone encroaches.

Marion Blakey, former head of the FAA and the NTSB: Nothing -- he can't help it. When the doors close look quickly for another seat.

Ms. Post: Body language can say a lot here. He bumps me I look down towards him -- not look at him. I'll adjust myself in a way that makes him realize he made me adjust. You can always say something, but tone is going to carry the day. Snarky is not OK.

Mr. Hanson: The tall man is not at fault for being tall. Candid discussion when you all sit down goes a long way toward everyone making accommodations for this situation.

[More from WSJ.com: Pregnant Commuter Tracks Subway Chivalry]

3. You're in the window seat and two strangers in the middle and aisle seats are asleep. You have to go to the bathroom.

Mr. McDaniel: No good options here. You have to wake them up politely. If you try crawling over them, not only is it really awkward looking, but if they wake up, you will startle them, and that's worse.

Mr. Bethune: Go to the restroom. Sorry.

Mr. Wishner: Climb over them.

Ron Goodenow, frequent traveler: I wait as long as possible and politely tap a shoulder and say something like "its that time." Never had a problem or nasty look.

Ms. Post: Tap them on the shoulder, the shoulder is a safe place, rather than the leg or a hand. Sometimes the act of unbuckling your seat belt will wake them up. If you're hopping up every 20 minutes, that is not acceptable.

Mr. Hanson: It is the responsibility of the person in the aisle seat to initiate a group bathroom break every 90 minutes or so. On long flights when people sleep, the aisle person should announce to the others that he or she is going to sleep and ask if anyone wants to get out before he does.

4. On a long flight on a full plane, some kids are getting restless, speaking loudly, and kicking seatbacks.

Ms. Blakey: I watched one flight attendant handle this adroitly by saying she "would hate to have to put him off the plane." Not another kick.

Mr. Wishner: Turn up the volume on your headset.

Mr. Goodenow: Look back and leave a perplexed look and say something like "been there, done that" to the weary parent.

Ms. Post: It's not good to try to discipline someone else's child. Ask for what you want, but don't try to justify it. Tone carries a lot. You don't want to get into an argument with parents.

Mr. Hanson: Travelers who are particularly sensitive to noise should carry earphones or earplugs. My first tactic is always to look between the seats and get the eye of both child and parent. If the kicking continues, then I get up and look over the seat top and ask politely for the parent to control the kicking. The third step is to ask the flight attendant to intervene.

Ms. Loew: Food that looks and smells as if it came from an episode of Anthony Bourdain's "Nasty Bits" could be, for some, one step too far. But not much can be done once the person is slopping and munching away.

Mr. Goodenow: My normal solution is to crank up my MP3 player and curl up in the direction of the window until it is over, praying my clothes will escape.

Ms. Blakey: Basically [you have to endure it] unless he spills on you.

Mr. Vesper: If my clothing is endangered, I'd ask him/her if they have an extra napkin. Otherwise I breathe through my mouth.

Ms. Post: May be totally gross, but the damage is done. You can't tell someone they can't eat that. If they are spilling, yes, say something. You can't be food police on the plane.

Mr. Hanson: Airlines have brought this on themselves by eliminating food service. Not only did I have a middle seat [recently], I was in the back and all the food-for-sale was gone by the time they reached me. I got out my smelly cheese and ate it in front of my seatmates.

6. Do you recline your seat?

Ms. Loew: More people are choosing not to recline in deference to their fellow passenger. If someone reclines and you can't do your work, then you are permitted to ask them to please adjust their seat. Expect a dirty look and a 50/50 chance of achieving your goal.

Mr. McDaniel: You have the right to recline, however it is nice if you check to see if anyone has their computer open or has something that can spill on their tray before reclining. If you choose to recline, do it slowly or just halfway.

Mr. Bethune: Live with it. The recline is your space.

Mr. Wishner: Put your knee in the back of his seat.

Ms. Post: It's OK to recline, just don't do it fast. If the airline gives you the option to recline, that is yours. You don't need to ask permission.

Mr. Hanson: Some seats are so close together, and some seatbacks recline so much, that ethics and courtesy demand not asserting your "right" to recline all the way. One should always assess the impact your reclining has on the person behind.

The Ethics of Flying Coach: Who Gets The Armrests? | View Clip03/18/2011Neatorama

The Ethics of Flying Coach: Who Gets The Armrests?

By Alex in Society & Culture on Mar 18, 2011 at 12:03 pm

Illustration: Jonathan Carlson

Ah, flying. It's certainly not as glamorous as it used to be. Indeed, as @xenijardin tweeted out, Southwest is just like the chicken bus of the sky.

But enough grousing: if we gotta fly, then we gotta fly. Endure the indignity of TSA searches (or at least have a creative fun of it), then get crammed in with hundreds of fellow sufferers flyers and, of course, sit on the tarmac for hours (or worse, toilet). But this all doesn't mean that we get to be rude (sorry, Steven Slater, the passenger didna mean it!)

No sir, civility has to be maintained. That's why we're alerting you to this article on the ethic of flying by The Wall Street Journal travel writer Scott McCartney of The Middle Seat. Starting with the ever important question of who gets the armrest:

1. You're in the middle seat, between two strangers. Who gets the armrests?

Anne Loew, veteran flight attendant: The folks in the aisle seat can lean toward the aisle, and the window-seat passenger has the window to lean on. The poor middle-seat passengers are suffering enough-they get both armrests.

Gordon Bethune, former Continental Airlines chief executive: They do.

James Vesper, frequent traveler: The middle seat gets both arm rests.

Richard Wishner, frequent traveler: You share. The bigger guy gets the forward part of the armrest.

Anna Post, etiquette expert: There is no innate winner of the arm-rest battle. If I'm in the middle seat, I try to claim one. They are not both yours for the duration.

Kirk Hanson, Santa Clara University ethics professor: Fairness requires the allocation of at least one arm rest to each traveler. Therefore, the side seats get the "outbound" armrests away from the middle seat. The middle passenger gets both armrests, in part as compensation for the dreaded middle seat.

The Ethics Commission must schedule a hearing within 120 days of the complaint being filed. The original complaint about the Green Clean Team was filed Jan. 18.

If the complaint is amended to include allegations involving a grant to 100 Black Men of Louisville, Green will be given an additional 20 days to respond before a hearing is scheduled.

After the hearing, the commission must make a decision within 30 days.

In March 2005, Judy Green interviewed with the Louisville Metro Council as a candidate for the open District 1 seat, hoping to talk about her vision for western Louisville.

Instead, she was asked question after question about her unpaid taxes.

At the prodding of council members, Green had to address the fact that she and her husband, James, failed to pay property taxes on their home from 1997 through 2003  a bill of nearly $10,000 that the couple settled just before her interview, according to records with the Jefferson County sheriff's office.

About the same time, Green also settled a $2,000 tax debt for four years of unpaid occupational license fees from her dental practice, records show.

Green told the council that her husband was in charge of the family's finances while she cared for their 13 children, 11 of whom were adopted and had special needs. The Greens also have fostered about 30 at-risk children over the years.

I did not have the oversight of the financial affairs in my home, Green said that night. Once I was made aware of that, I immediately took care of it.

Not all of it. Green didn't mention to the council that she and her husband also owed tens of thousands of dollars in federal income taxes or that she hadn't repaid hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans.

Green's financial problems cost her the council appointment. The board instead unanimously selected Leonard Watkins. But she defeated Watkins in 2006 and has served on the council since 2007.

Still, her ongoing financial problems have continued to shadow her tenure, and she now faces ethics charges that she had the council fund a summer jobs program for youth that, according to police, she ran and which employed 12 of her relatives or foster children.

Judy Nadler, former mayor of Santa Clara, Calif., who now is a senior fellow of government ethics at Santa Clara University, said Green's financial problems reflect poorly on her public service. Nadler said she has been following Green's case in the media.

The inability to handle her own basic finances, which is a responsibility that each of us has, does call into question her ability to manage the finances she has been elected to oversee, Nadler said.

Green blames economy

In a recent interview with the newspaper, Green blamed her financial and tax problems on the economy and again mentioned the strain of raising her family.

We raise 13 children and this is tough economic times, she said. We're paying our debt. I'm not trying to shirk on it. We've been paying for years, and we'll keep paying until they are paid off.

Currently, the couple owes more than $55,000 in unpaid federal income tax, and the IRS filed a lien against their 43rd Street home in 2006, according to federal court records.

And the Greens are again late on their property taxes. Records with the Jefferson County sheriff's office show the couple owes $1,272 in delinquent property taxes from 2010, after making a partial payment of $1,000 in January.

In addition, Green owes a student loan debt of $374,869, according to federal court records.

The U.S. attorney's office filed paperwork in U.S. District Court in August 2005, trying to garnishee her wages and begin collecting that debt. The office learned later that the statute of limitations had run out on the debt and they could not legally require collection.

Stephanie Collins, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney David Hale's office, said Green still has a moral obligation to pay what she owes.

Green had a different take in an interview with the newspaper: They sent me a letter that said the statute of limitations ran out and you don't need to pay anything  you don't owe it anymore.

Nadler agrees with the U.S. attorney's office. She's taking away the opportunity for other students to obtain loans because her loan hasn't been paid back. There's a morally binding understanding that you'll pay it back.

More recently, the Greens' home of nearly 30 years faced foreclosure late last year when they fell behind on a $136,000 loanwith a 12.5 percent interest rate.

Supporters still abound

Despite all of her troubles, Green continues to have her supporters, especially within her district, which includes the Lake Dreamland area and the Shawnee, Chickasaw, Russell, California and Park Du Valle neighborhoods.

Sam Watkins, president and chief executive officer of the nonprofit Louisville Central Community Centers, which offers support for families in poverty, said he has known Green as a dentist and that she has earned his political support.

My sense is she truly cares about this community and especially about black children and youth who are in poverty. She's very passionate about it. I have a strong appreciation for any person who adopts children, particularly children who have a challenged background, he said.

Action Loans owner Gus Goldsmith, who made the $136,000 loan on the Greens' home, asked that the order of sale be set aside in January after restructuring the loan.

I give people a second chance, said Goldsmith, whose company was featured in a Courier-Journal series that looked at companies that charge high interest rates for loans to people who often have low incomes and bad credit and who don't qualify for traditional loans.

But there is evidence that Green's financial problems may be beginning to erode her popularity. Jewell Smotherman, who lives near Shawnee Park, has been a block-watch captain and vice chairwoman of a Weed and Seed program. Smotherman said she has nothing personal against the Greens but that public officials ought to pay their taxes.

If you can't manage your own money, how are you going to manage money for the entire district? Smotherman said. It's not a good example to set for the people in her district.

Benetha Ellis, a 40-year resident of District 1 who has worked on crime councils, helped organize youth summits and helped in the formation of the Shawnee Neighborhood Association in District 5, said the controversies surrounding Green send the wrong image to the public. It appears monies are given to organizations and the money has nothing to do with the enhancement of the neighborhoods, Ellis said.

But the Rev. Frank Smith, president of the Interdenominational Ministerial Coalition, finds much to admire about Green. While admitting that he's not fully aware of the facts and allegations surrounding Green, he said he's found her to be a concerned person who helps young people in need, which makes her a treasured and valued person in our community.

Green's 2009 summer jobs program for youth, called the Green Clean Team, was the focus of a city audit and a police investigation over the summer. Both found that the Greens ran the program and that 12 of their relatives or foster children worked in it, collectively receiving 10 percent of the $35,000 city grant funding it.

Although no criminal charges were filed, the police investigation concluded that the program, which the Greens ran, was extremely unethical in its design, control and completion.

Green defends action

Green denies running the program and says her children were eligible to participate, and didn't cost anyone else a spot. I wanted this to be a meaningful program from the standpoint of understanding their environment, how to keep West Louisville clean, Green said. I wanted them to learn some pride in their neighborhood and I wanted them to have some school money in their pockets.

The police investigation also revealed that Green sponsored a $7,500 grant to the nonprofit agency 100 Black Men of Louisville in 2009 and made a side agreement with the group to reroute almost a third of the money to other organizations  two youth football leagues  at the councilwoman's direction.

Part of the money was also used to buy tickets to a Kentucky Derby fundraiser, which Green attended.

Green faces an Ethics Commission hearing later this month after a complaint was filed against her by former police officer Ray Barker, who ran against Green in the 2006 and 2010 Democratic primaries. He alleges the councilwoman used her council position to benefit her family through the jobs program.

The Metro Council has since asked the Ethics Commission to expand its hearing to consider if Green breached ethical standards by circumventing council rules for the way grant money is handled. Those rules dictate that grant applications specify how the money is to be used; none of the documents related to the 100 Black Men grant, which had been for a mentoring program, indicated that the money would be shared.

Kent Wicker, Green's attorney, has said the councilwoman didn't violate ethics rules with her jobs program because her relatives qualified for it and their participation didn't exclude any other member of the public from working in it. He said the diversion of grant funds isn't an ethical breach because Green didn't obtain any personal financial gain.

Wicker said, Dr. Green looks forward to her chance to tell her side of the story.

In March 2005, Judy Green interviewed with the Louisville Metro Council as a candidate for the open District 1 seat, hoping to talk about her vision for western Louisville.

Instead, she was asked question after question about her unpaid taxes.

At the prodding of council members, Green had to address the fact that she and her husband, James, failed to pay property taxes on their home from 1997 through 2003  a bill of nearly $10,000 that the couple settled just before her interview, according to records with the Jefferson County sheriff's office.

About the same time, Green also settled a $2,000 tax debt for four years of unpaid occupational license fees from her dental practice, records show.

Green told the council that her husband was in charge of the family's finances while she cared for their 13 children, 11 of whom were adopted and had special needs. The Greens also have fostered about 30 at-risk children over the years.

I did not have the oversight of the financial affairs in my home, Green said that night. Once I was made aware of that, I immediately took care of it.

Not all of it. Green didn't mention to the council that she and her husband also owed tens of thousands of dollars in federal income taxes or that she hadn't repaid hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans.

Green's financial problems cost her the council appointment. The board instead unanimously selected Leonard Watkins. But she defeated Watkins in 2006 and has served on the council since 2007.

Still, her ongoing financial problems have continued to shadow her tenure, and she now faces ethics charges that she had the council fund a summer jobs program for youth that, according to police, she ran and which employed 12 of her relatives or foster children.

Judy Nadler, former mayor of Santa Clara, Calif., who now is a senior fellow of government ethics at Santa Clara University, said Green's financial problems reflect poorly on her public service. Nadler said she has been following Green's case in the media.

(2 of 4)

The inability to handle her own basic finances, which is a responsibility that each of us has, does call into question her ability to manage the finances she has been elected to oversee, Nadler said.

Green blames economy

In a recent interview with the newspaper, Green blamed her financial and tax problems on the economy and again mentioned the strain of raising her family.

We raise 13 children and this is tough economic times, she said. We're paying our debt. I'm not trying to shirk on it. We've been paying for years, and we'll keep paying until they are paid off.

Currently, the couple owes more than $55,000 in unpaid federal income tax, and the IRS filed a lien against their 43rd Street home in 2006, according to federal court records.

And the Greens are again late on their property taxes. Records with the Jefferson County sheriff's office show the couple owes $1,272 in delinquent property taxes from 2010, after making a partial payment of $1,000 in January.

In addition, Green owes a student loan debt of $374,869, according to federal court records.

The U.S. attorney's office filed paperwork in U.S. District Court in August 2005, trying to garnishee her wages and begin collecting that debt. The office learned later that the statute of limitations had run out on the debt and they could not legally require collection.

Stephanie Collins, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney David Hale's office, said Green still has a moral obligation to pay what she owes.

Green had a different take in an interview with the newspaper: They sent me a letter that said the statute of limitations ran out and you don't need to pay anything  you don't owe it anymore.

Nadler agrees with the U.S. attorney's office. She's taking away the opportunity for other students to obtain loans because her loan hasn't been paid back. There's a morally binding understanding that you'll pay it back.

More recently, the Greens' home of nearly 30 years faced foreclosure late last year when they fell behind on a $136,000 loanwith a 12.5 percent interest rate.

(3 of 4)

Supporters still abound

Despite all of her troubles, Green continues to have her supporters, especially within her district, which includes the Lake Dreamland area and the Shawnee, Chickasaw, Russell, California and Park Du Valle neighborhoods.

Sam Watkins, president and chief executive officer of the nonprofit Louisville Central Community Centers, which offers support for families in poverty, said he has known Green as a dentist and that she has earned his political support.

My sense is she truly cares about this community and especially about black children and youth who are in poverty. She's very passionate about it. I have a strong appreciation for any person who adopts children, particularly children who have a challenged background, he said.

Action Loans owner Gus Goldsmith, who made the $136,000 loan on the Greens' home, asked that the order of sale be set aside in January after restructuring the loan.

I give people a second chance, said Goldsmith, whose company was featured in a Courier-Journal series that looked at companies that charge high interest rates for loans to people who often have low incomes and bad credit and who don't qualify for traditional loans.

But there is evidence that Green's financial problems may be beginning to erode her popularity. Jewell Smotherman, who lives near Shawnee Park, has been a block-watch captain and vice chairwoman of a Weed and Seed program. Smotherman said she has nothing personal against the Greens but that public officials ought to pay their taxes.

If you can't manage your own money, how are you going to manage money for the entire district? Smotherman said. It's not a good example to set for the people in her district.

Benetha Ellis, a 40-year resident of District 1 who has worked on crime councils, helped organize youth summits and helped in the formation of the Shawnee Neighborhood Association in District 5, said the controversies surrounding Green send the wrong image to the public. It appears monies are given to organizations and the money has nothing to do with the enhancement of the neighborhoods, Ellis said.

(4 of 4)

But the Rev. Frank Smith, president of the Interdenominational Ministerial Coalition, finds much to admire about Green. While admitting that he's not fully aware of the facts and allegations surrounding Green, he said he's found her to be a concerned person who helps young people in need, which makes her a treasured and valued person in our community.

Green's 2009 summer jobs program for youth, called the Green Clean Team, was the focus of a city audit and a police investigation over the summer. Both found that the Greens ran the program and that 12 of their relatives or foster children worked in it, collectively receiving 10 percent of the $35,000 city grant funding it.

Although no criminal charges were filed, the police investigation concluded that the program, which the Greens ran, was extremely unethical in its design, control and completion.

Green defends action

Green denies running the program and says her children were eligible to participate, and didn't cost anyone else a spot. I wanted this to be a meaningful program from the standpoint of understanding their environment, how to keep West Louisville clean, Green said. I wanted them to learn some pride in their neighborhood and I wanted them to have some school money in their pockets.

The police investigation also revealed that Green sponsored a $7,500 grant to the nonprofit agency 100 Black Men of Louisville in 2009 and made a side agreement with the group to reroute almost a third of the money to other organizations  two youth football leagues  at the councilwoman's direction.

Part of the money was also used to buy tickets to a Kentucky Derby fundraiser, which Green attended.

Green faces an Ethics Commission hearing later this month after a complaint was filed against her by former police officer Ray Barker, who ran against Green in the 2006 and 2010 Democratic primaries. He alleges the councilwoman used her council position to benefit her family through the jobs program.

The Metro Council has since asked the Ethics Commission to expand its hearing to consider if Green breached ethical standards by circumventing council rules for the way grant money is handled. Those rules dictate that grant applications specify how the money is to be used; none of the documents related to the 100 Black Men grant, which had been for a mentoring program, indicated that the money would be shared.

Kent Wicker, Green's attorney, has said the councilwoman didn't violate ethics rules with her jobs program because her relatives qualified for it and their participation didn't exclude any other member of the public from working in it. He said the diversion of grant funds isn't an ethical breach because Green didn't obtain any personal financial gain.

Wicker said, Dr. Green looks forward to her chance to tell her side of the story.

Dario Navarro Joins Monterey College of Law as Associate Dean of International Legal Studies | View Clip03/18/2011PRWeb

Dean Mitchel Winick announced this week that Dario Navarro has joined Monterey College of Law as Associate Dean of International Legal Studies. Navarro, an experienced international lawyer, professor, and business consultant will help develop the law school's new graduate LL.M. degree program in International Law.

Dean Mitchel Winick announced this week that Dario Navarro has joined Monterey College of Law as Associate Dean of International Legal Studies. Navarro, an experienced international lawyer, professor, and business consultant will help develop the law school's new graduate LL.M. degree program in International Law. The LL.M. degree program is a 24-unit, one-year program that is designed to promote advanced legal education for practicing attorneys and law school graduates from the U.S and foreign countries. The program is designed to prepare graduates to participate in the global marketplace in business, government, and international law practice.

“We are delighted that someone with Dario's extensive international experience is available to join the faculty of Monterey College of Law,” said Winick. “His experience in both teaching international law and international business fits well with the practical philosophy of our law school.”

In addition to his administrative responsibility over the establishment of the new LL.M. degree program, Navarro will be teaching International Law at Monterey College of Law during the summer semester. His previous faculty experience includes teaching international law, finance, economics, business strategy, and risk management at a number of U.S. and international universities, including European University and Barcelona Business School in Barcelona, Spain; Griffith University School of Law in Brisbane, Australia; Tsukuba University in Tsukuba, Japan; Santa Clara University School of Law in Santa Clara, California; Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon; and University of Kansas School of Law in Lawrence, Kansas. He has also been an invited guest lecturer at the Instituo de Empresa Business School in Madrid, Spain, Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo in Santander, Spain and Pompeu Fabra Universitat in Barcelona, Spain.

“I believe that my experience living and working abroad in Europe and Asia will prove quite useful in the development of the new LL.M. program,” commented Navarro. “During my professional career, I have worked in Spain, Japan, Thailand, Korea, and Australia.” Navarro also has a private law and consulting practice with client firms based in the U.S., Southeast Asia, and Europe seeking financing for renewable energy and clean technology projects, especially in such fields as carbon finance, biofuel development, biochar production, wind energy, and advanced water processing technologies.

“I have been especially impressed with the creative vision and innovative leadership that Dean Winick has brought to his responsibilities,” Navarro elaborated. “For example, the development of the new iPad-based approach to curriculum development and the state-of-the-art Internet teleconferencing capabilities that the College has implemented under Dean Winick's leadership will play a crucial role in the new international legal studies program. Imagine sitting around a conference table in Monterey to ‘attend' a seminar on European business law taught by a distinguished law professor who is presenting from Perugia, Italy, but appears to the U.S. students as a projected real-time digital image. The lecturer and students in both Italy and Monterey will be able to communicate with each other as if they were in the same location. The educational possibilities created by the law school's investments in technology are as exciting as they are limitless,” said Navarro.

In addition to his teaching experience, Navarro has an impressive academic career, having earned an LL.M. from Yale Law School, M.P.A. from Princeton University, J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law, and a B.A. from Marquette University. He also attended the Institute on International and Comparative Law at Oxford University in a summer program sponsored by the University of San Diego School of Law.

Would high-speed rail spending add jobs in the United States? Of course.

Even if some of the rolling stock for the trains were imported, structures and other permanent way would still have to be built in the United States. Under current conditions, any government spending for rails, for bridges, for highways, for the military would contribute to job creation.

Fears that government spending might displace or crowd out private-sector capital formation would be justified were we at or close to capacity. But we are not.

The unemployment rate remains almost 10 percent, and this doesn't account for those who, discouraged, have simply left the workforce.

Even more telling is the ratio of employment to population, which has fallen from its all-time high of over 64 percent in 1999 to 58 percent today. In spite of large “supply side” tax cuts tilted toward the wealthy, the record of the George W. Bush presidency on job creation was in fact quite poor.

For a variety of reasons, including the recent financial crisis, the U.S. economy remains in a serious slump. High-speed rail spending could stimulate job growth and help jump start the economy.

These projects would, of course, add to the deficit and concerns about its long term growth, particularly that attributable to health care, are merited.

Looking back over the last three decades, however, Republicans' interests in deficit reduction seems to have waxed and waned depending upon who occupied the White House.

The deficit ballooned under Bush, due largely to tax cuts but also to increases in military spending and a new unfunded prescription drug benefit. The resulting run-up in the debt was regrettable, but the time to cut government spending is when the economy is strong, not when it is weak.

If the country is going to incur new debt, it is better to do so to acquire well-chosen infrastructure and equipment than to fund consumption.

Would high-speed rail represent well-chosen infrastructure? In other words, would it help the U.S. “win the future”? This is a more complex question. It requires us to consider not simply whether such projects would help close the output gap, but whether and how effectively they would expand the potential output of the economy.

Here there are legitimate concerns about whether the U.S. has enough high density corridors such as that between Boston and Washington to yield large benefits.

And building in dense areas can be costly. For example, the proposed Los Angeles to San Francisco route would go right through my backyard in Palo Alto, and the extent to which that part of the route will or will not be put underground has become a contentious political issue.

That said, state and federal governments have a long and largely successful record of supporting infrastructure development, from the Erie Canal to regional and transcontinental railroads to the Interstate Highway System and, more recently, to the Internet.

The build-out of the surface road network during the Great Depression generated large private-sector benefits, contributing to very fast productivity growth in transportation railroads and trucking as well as in wholesale and retail distribution.

High-speed rail projects could certainly create jobs and stimulate the economy in the short run. Whether they would generate benefits similar to those of other government funded infrastructure projects is uncertain. History suggests, however, that there's a good chance they would.

Location: 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95050 When:
April 12, 2011
Time: 10:00am–4:00pm
The American Red Cross, Northern California Region, Mobile Blood Drives will be open to the public beginning in April. The mobile clinic will be at Santa Clara University on Tuesday, April 12th from 10am to 4pm in the Mission California Room. For more information call 1-800-RED CROSS ( 1-800-733-2767) or go to redcrossblood.org . Please use the Sponsor Code: SCU to schedule an appointment.

Location: 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95050 When:
April 12, 2011
Time: 10:00am–4:00pm
The American Red Cross, Northern California Region, Mobile Blood Drives will be open to the public beginning in April. The mobile clinic will be at Santa Clara University on Tuesday, April 12th from 10am to 4pm in the Mission California Room. For more information call 1-800-RED CROSS ( 1-800-733-2767) or go to redcrossblood.org . Please use the Sponsor Code: SCU to schedule an appointment.

15 universities and organizations will deconstruct issues affecting the Bay Area

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Students, faculty, higher education leaders, and community members from Northern California are coming together at Santa Clara University on April 30 for the first ever Diversity Leadership Conference aimed at tackling issues related to diversity in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“People think the Bay Area doesn't have a lot of work to do because it's so diverse, but the contrary is true,” says Lester Deanes, assistant dean for student life at Santa Clara University. “People living in the Bay Area need to consistently engage in dialogue with each other and across the different communities to continue to move forward and address challenging issues.”

Sponsored by Google, Santa Clara, Stanford, San Jose State, and De Anza College, the conference will have 40 workshops covering four main themes: civic engagement, social justice, education equity, and intersection of multiple identities. Speakers and panelists from at least 15 universities and organizations, such as UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and Mills College will lead the workshops and discussions, including:

Diversity and Inclusion in the Technology Industry – Sarah Stuart from Google will explore some of the opportunities and challenges of diversity and inclusion in the technology industry. She will dive into Google's culture and commitment to diversity in the workforce, workplace, and marketplace.

Undocumented and Speaking Out! – Many undocumented students continue to have no path to citizenship, but they're working hard to achieve the American Dream. They will speak out about their struggle of living in the U.S. without citizenship. Isabel Duron from SCU will lead this discussion.

Let's Talk About Sex…Diversity – Denisse Mendez and Sascha Brown from SJSU will lead an interactive workshop that will focus on sexual diversity and sex positivity through multimedia and group dialogue. It will include but not be limited to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community, and differently-abled community.

Deconstructing Identity: Addenity: How Media Shapes Identity and Self – Jessica Lieberman, Damaris Nieslsen, and Remy Smith from St. Mary's will show that the meaning of diversity is beyond tolerance and that media can play a key role in achieving a diverse global world.

SCU's Diversity Leadership Conference website has a full list of all the workshops. The conference will be held at SCU from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 30.

| 16:00 Uhr Students, faculty, higher education leaders, and community members from Northern California are coming together at Santa Clara University on April 30 for the first ever Diversity Leadership Conference aimed at tackling issues related to diversity in the San Francisco Bay Area.

?People think the Bay Area doesn?t have a lot of work to do because it?s so diverse, but the contrary is true,? says Lester Deanes, assistant dean for student life at Santa Clara University. ?People living in the Bay Area need to consistently engage in dialogue with each other and across the different communities to continue to move forward and address challenging issues.?

Sponsored by Google, Santa Clara, Stanford, San Jose State, and De Anza College, the conference will have 40 workshops covering four main themes: civic engagement, social justice, education equity, and intersection of multiple identities. Speakers and panelists from at least 15 universities and organizations, such as UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and Mills College will lead the workshops and discussions, including:

Diversity and Inclusion in the Technology Industry ? Sarah Stuart from Google will explore some of the opportunities and challenges of diversity and inclusion in the technology industry. She will dive into Google?s culture and commitment to diversity in the workforce, workplace, and marketplace.

Undocumented and Speaking Out! ? Many undocumented students continue to have no path to citizenship, but they?re working hard to achieve the American Dream. They will speak out about their struggle of living in the U.S. without citizenship. Isabel Duron from SCU will lead this discussion.

Let?s Talk About Sex?Diversity ? Denisse Mendez and Sascha Brown from SJSU will lead an interactive workshop that will focus on sexual diversity and sex positivity through multimedia and group dialogue. It will include but not be limited to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community, and differently-abled community.

Deconstructing Identity: Addenity: How Media Shapes Identity and Self ? Jessica Lieberman, Damaris Nieslsen, and Remy Smith from St. Mary?s will show that the meaning of diversity is beyond tolerance and that media can play a key role in achieving a diverse global world.

SCU?s Diversity Leadership Conference website has a full list of all the workshops. The conference will be held at SCU from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 30.

Note: The following advisory issued by Santa Clara University was brought to my attention by a colleague whose child attends there. With slight modification, I reproduce it here.

Undoubtedly many of you have been following the ongoing events in Japan following the severe earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor emergency. Some of you have expressed concerns about the potential risk of radiation reaching California, so I wanted to share with you the latest information from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) on this matter.

According to Federal, State and local regulatory agencies, there is no current risk of radiation reaching California.

Concerns have been raised about windblown radiation making it to California. State and federal experts and authorities agree - there is currently no danger to California residents from Japan's nuclear emergency. The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is closely monitoring the situation and working with other State and Federal authorities. State and Federal agencies conduct weekly air tests at 10 sites around California. These and other tests are used to determine if any unusual increases in radiation have occurred. CDPH is currently looking at the timing and frequency of their testing as the situationin Japan continues.

According to State and Federal authorities, there has not been a major release of radiation into the atmosphere due to the problems with the

nuclear reactors in Japan. The current level of radiation being released, while above what is normally accepted, is a threat to only the people in the immediate vicinity of the nuclear power plant in Japan.

The county public health departments are in contact with the State, and the State will let them know if the situation changes. If that were to happen, we will be notified immediately about any precautionary measures that should be taken.

Since there is no present danger to the California residents there is no need for anyone to take potassium iodide. Remember, taking potassium iodide may be harmful for some people, particularly those with a thyroid disease and those who are allergic to it. If you have a seafood or shellfish allergy - it can mean that you are allergic to potassium iodide. Also, many people may have an undiagnosed condition and taking potassium iodide tablets may cause them health problems.

So please remember, there is currently no risk of windblown nuclear radiation for California, a number of Federal and State agencies areclosely monitoring the situation and will let our local Public Health Department know if there are any increased levels of radiation, and potassium iodide tablets are not needed and not recommended.

You can stay informed by going to the California Department of Public Health website at www.cdph.ca.gov or you can call the CDPH public information hotline at 1-916-341-3947 if you need additional information.

If you're tooling around Santa Clara these days and see people's noses buried in the same book or talking about dogs who can speak, it's no coincidence.

The entire city is invited to participate in a national effort called The Big Read, in which the goal is simple: Everyone in a community should be on the same page. Well, almost literally.

This year, Santa Clara is the only city in Silicon Valley to have been awarded grant money from the National Endowment for the Arts to encourage the entire community to read the same book. Santa Clara has chosen "The Call of the Wild," by Jack London, a story in which dogs are the central characters and the opening scene takes place in Santa Clara.

On Wednesday, the literary effort formally kicked off at Mission College, where a band played jazzy tunes and giddy librarians passed out free copies of the classic.

"I'm going to read it tonight," said Erin Townsend, 24. "I think it's cool that everyone will be reading and talking about the same book."

The Big Read was born in 2006 in response to a survey that showed a great decline in adults reading for pleasure. Since then, 74 organizations from California and 800 nationwide have participated in The Big Read, said Liz Stark, spokeswoman for the NEA in Washington.

In years past, Bay Area cities, universities and libraries from Palo Alto to Pleasanton have been involved. This year, the selection process was tougher than usual: Only 75

groups, instead of the typical 200 or so, were awarded federal money.

Santa Clara received $6,000 in grant funding, and matched it with nearly $6,000 in cash and in-kind services, said Maria Daane, executive director of the Santa Clara City Library Foundation & Friends.

Most of the money was used to provide nearly 600 free copies of the book and pay the expenses of two experts -- Daniel Dyer, a Jack London scholar from Ohio, and Jeff Dinsdale, a historian of dog sledding from Canada -- to speak on several occasions in the next month.

For those unfamiliar with the book, the San Francisco-born London wrote a story in 1903 that was considered experimental at the time: Half the characters are canine, and the hero, Buck, is a St. Bernard-Scotch shepherd who is stolen from his home in the Santa Clara Valley and sold as a sled dog to face struggles in Klondike Gold Rush Territory, from Canada's Yukon to Alaska.

Daane said the book was chosen for many reasons. First, it was one of the 31 choices offered by the NEA. Second, a scene is set in Santa Clara. And third, the author had many close ties to the area -- including the fact that he attended Oakland High School -- as evidenced by the many parks, streets and areas named after him.

Daane said not only would it be great if people started discussing the book in the grocery aisles, but also learned about the book's topics, such as dog sledding and railroads.

"My big hope is that a lot of people read 'The Call of the Wild' and engage with the book in a dynamic way," she said.

At least for one reader, just reading the first few sentences again brought her back 50 years.

Jessica Mejia, 61, was handed a free copy of the book on Wednesday, and didn't waste any time opening its cover. The words brought her back to sixth grade -- she vividly remembered her teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in Oakland discussing the book and taking the children on a field trip to Jack London Square.

"I'm an avid reader," Mejia said. "I think this is so wonderful. I'm happy to be reading it again."

Contact Lisa Fernandez at 408-920-5002.

'The call of the wild' activities in Santa Clara

Several book discussions and slide show presentations about the historical footsteps of Jack London and the fictional footsteps of a dog named Buck.

Free screenings of the 1975 Charlton Heston version of the movie and an anime version of the classic, both at the Central Park Library.

A historian of dog sledding, Jeff Dinsdale, dressed in sledding regalia, will bring sled dogs to some Santa Clara schools and talk to students about the rugged sport.

An exhibit at the de Saisset Museum in honor of Father Bernard Hubbard, also called "The Glacier Priest," a Jesuit at Santa Clara University who led annual expeditions to Alaska from 1927 until shortly before his death in 1962.

For a full list of The Big Read programs in Santa Clara, visit www.neabigread.org, click on "Communities" and find Santa Clara.

Students Sarah Razo, left, and Annette Cruz pick up free copies of "Call of the Wild" at Mission College in Santa Clara, March 16, 2011. Santa Clara won a federal grant to promote the Big Read, a national effort to get entire communities reading, and talking about, the same book.

If you're tooling around Santa Clara these days and see people's noses buried in the same book or talking about dogs who can speak, it's no coincidence.

The entire city is invited to participate in a national effort called The Big Read, in which the goal is simple: Everyone in a community should be on the same page. Well, almost literally.

This year, Santa Clara is the only city in Silicon Valley to have been awarded grant money from the National Endowment for the Arts to encourage the entire community to read the same book. Santa Clara has chosen "The Call of the Wild," by Jack London, a story in which dogs are the central characters and the opening scene takes place in Santa Clara.

On Wednesday, the literary effort formally kicked off at Mission College, where a band played jazzy tunes and giddy librarians passed out free copies of the classic.

"I'm going to read it tonight," said Erin Townsend, 24. "I think it's cool that everyone will be reading and talking about the same book."

The Big Read was born in 2006 in response to a survey that showed a great decline in adults reading for pleasure. Since then, 74 organizations from California and 800 nationwide have participated in The Big Read, said Liz Stark, spokeswoman for the NEA in Washington.

In years past, Bay Area cities, universities and libraries from Palo Alto to Pleasanton have been involved. This year, the selection process was tougher than usual: Only 75

groups, instead of the typical 200 or so, were awarded federal money.

Santa Clara received $6,000 in grant funding, and matched it with nearly $6,000 in cash and in-kind services, said Maria Daane, executive director of the Santa Clara City Library Foundation & Friends.

Most of the money was used to provide nearly 600 free copies of the book and pay the expenses of two experts -- Daniel Dyer, a Jack London scholar from Ohio, and Jeff Dinsdale, a historian of dog sledding from Canada -- to speak on several occasions in the next month.

For those unfamiliar with the book, the San Francisco-born London wrote a story in 1903 that was considered experimental at the time: Half the characters are canine, and the hero, Buck, is a St. Bernard-Scotch shepherd who is stolen from his home in the Santa Clara Valley and sold as a sled dog to face struggles in Klondike Gold Rush Territory, from Canada's Yukon to Alaska.

Daane said the book was chosen for many reasons. First, it was one of the 31 choices offered by the NEA. Second, a scene is set in Santa Clara. And third, the author had many close ties to the area -- including the fact that he attended Oakland High School -- as evidenced by the many parks, streets and areas named after him.

Daane said not only would it be great if people started discussing the book in the grocery aisles, but also learned about the book's topics, such as dog sledding and railroads.

"My big hope is that a lot of people read 'The Call of the Wild' and engage with the book in a dynamic way," she said.

At least for one reader, just reading the first few sentences again brought her back 50 years.

Jessica Mejia, 61, was handed a free copy of the book on Wednesday, and didn't waste any time opening its cover. The words brought her back to sixth grade -- she vividly remembered her teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in Oakland discussing the book and taking the children on a field trip to Jack London Square.

"I'm an avid reader," Mejia said. "I think this is so wonderful. I'm happy to be reading it again."

Contact Lisa Fernandez at 408-920-5002.

Several book discussions and slide show presentations about the historical footsteps of Jack London and the fictional footsteps of a dog named Buck.

Free screenings of the 1975 Charlton Heston version of the movie and an anime version of the classic, both at the Central Park Library.

A historian of dog sledding, Jeff Dinsdale, dressed in sledding regalia, will bring sled dogs to some Santa Clara schools and talk to students about the rugged sport.

An exhibit at the de Saisset Museum in honor of Father Bernard Hubbard, also called "The Glacier Priest," a Jesuit at Santa Clara University who led annual expeditions to Alaska from 1927 until shortly before his death in 1962.

For a full list of The Big Read programs in Santa Clara, visit www.neabigread.org, click on "Communities" and find Santa Clara.

Students Sarah Razo, left, and Annette Cruz pick up free copies of "Call of the Wild" at Mission College in Santa Clara, March 16, 2011. Santa Clara won a federal grant to promote the Big Read, a national effort to get entire communities reading, and talking about, the same book.

If you're tooling around Santa Clara these days and see people's noses buried in the same book or talking about dogs who can speak, it's no coincidence.

The entire city is invited to participate in a national effort called The Big Read, in which the goal is simple: Everyone in a community should be on the same page. Well, almost literally.

This year, Santa Clara is the only city in Silicon Valley to have been awarded grant money from the National Endowment for the Arts to encourage the entire community to read the same book. Santa Clara has chosen "The Call of the Wild," by Jack London, a story in which dogs are the central characters and the opening scene takes place in Santa Clara.

On Wednesday, the literary effort formally kicked off at Mission College, where a band played jazzy tunes and giddy librarians passed out free copies of the classic.

"I'm going to read it tonight," said Erin Townsend, 24. "I think it's cool that everyone will be reading and talking about the same book."

The Big Read was born in 2006 in response to a survey that showed a great decline in adults reading for pleasure. Since then, 74 organizations from California and 800 nationwide have participated in The Big Read, said Liz Stark, spokeswoman for the NEA in Washington.

In years past, Bay Area cities, universities and libraries from Palo Alto to Pleasanton have been involved. This year, the selection process was tougher than usual: Only 75

groups, instead of the typical 200 or so, were awarded federal money.

Santa Clara received $6,000 in grant funding, and matched it with nearly $6,000 in cash and in-kind services, said Maria Daane, executive director of the Santa Clara City Library Foundation & Friends.

Most of the money was used to provide nearly 600 free copies of the book and pay the expenses of two experts -- Daniel Dyer, a Jack London scholar from Ohio, and Jeff Dinsdale, a historian of dog sledding from Canada -- to speak on several occasions in the next month.

For those unfamiliar with the book, the San Francisco-born London wrote a story in 1903 that was considered experimental at the time: Half the characters are canine, and the hero, Buck, is a St. Bernard-Scotch shepherd who is stolen from his home in the Santa Clara Valley and sold as a sled dog to face struggles in Klondike Gold Rush Territory, from Canada's Yukon to Alaska.

Daane said the book was chosen for many reasons. First, it was one of the 31 choices offered by the NEA. Second, a scene is set in Santa Clara. And third, the author had many close ties to the area -- including the fact that he attended Oakland High School -- as evidenced by the many parks, streets and areas named after him.

Daane said not only would it be great if people started discussing the book in the grocery aisles, but also learned about the book's topics, such as dog sledding and railroads.

"My big hope is that a lot of people read 'The Call of the Wild' and engage with the book in a dynamic way," she said.

At least for one reader, just reading the first few sentences again brought her back 50 years.

Jessica Mejia, 61, was handed a free copy of the book on Wednesday, and didn't waste any time opening its cover. The words brought her back to sixth grade -- she vividly remembered her teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in Oakland discussing the book and taking the children on a field trip to Jack London Square.

"I'm an avid reader," Mejia said. "I think this is so wonderful. I'm happy to be reading it again."

Contact Lisa Fernandez at 408-920-5002.

Several book discussions and slide show presentations about the historical footsteps of Jack London and the fictional footsteps of a dog named Buck.

Free screenings of the 1975 Charlton Heston version of the movie and an anime version of the classic, both at the Central Park Library.

A historian of dog sledding, Jeff Dinsdale, dressed in sledding regalia, will bring sled dogs to some Santa Clara schools and talk to students about the rugged sport.

An exhibit at the de Saisset Museum in honor of Father Bernard Hubbard, also called "The Glacier Priest," a Jesuit at Santa Clara University who led annual expeditions to Alaska from 1927 until shortly before his death in 1962.

For a full list of The Big Read programs in Santa Clara, visit www.neabigread.org, click on "Communities" and find Santa Clara.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Would high-speed rail spending add jobs in the United States? Of course.

Even if some of the rolling stock for the trains were imported, structures and other permanent way would still have to be built in the United States. Under current conditions, any government spending - for rails, for bridges, for highways, for the military - would contribute to job creation.

Fears that government spending might displace or crowd out private-sector capital formation would be justified were we at or close to capacity. But we are not.

The unemployment rate remains almost 10 percent, and this doesn't account for those who, discouraged, have simply left the workforce.

Even more telling is the ratio of employment to population, which has fallen from its all-time high of over 64 percent in 1999 to 58 percent today. In spite of large "supply side" tax cuts tilted toward the wealthy, the record of the George W. Bush presidency on job creation was in fact quite poor.

For a variety of reasons, including the recent financial crisis, the U.S. economy remains in a serious slump. High-speed rail spending could stimulate job growth and help jump start the economy.

These projects would, of course, add to the deficit and concerns about its long term growth, particularly that attributable to health care, are merited.

Looking back over the last three decades, however, Republicans' interests in deficit reduction seems to have waxed and waned depending upon who occupied the White House.

The deficit ballooned under Bush, due largely to tax cuts but also to increases in military spending and a new unfunded prescription drug benefit. The resulting run-up in the debt was regrettable, but the time to cut government spending is when the economy is strong, not when it is weak.

If the country is going to incur new debt, it is better to do so to acquire well-chosen infrastructure and equipment than to fund consumption.

Would high-speed rail represent well-chosen infrastructure? In other words, would it help the U.S. "win the future"? This is a more complex question. It requires us to consider not simply whether such projects would help close the output gap, but whether and how effectively they would expand the potential output of the economy.

Here there are legitimate concerns about whether the U.S. has enough high density corridors - such as that between Boston and Washington - to yield large benefits.

And building in dense areas can be costly. For example, the proposed Los Angeles to San Francisco route would go right through my backyard in Palo Alto, and the extent to which that part of the route will or will not be put underground has become a contentious political issue.

That said, state and federal governments have a long and largely successful record of supporting infrastructure development, from the Erie Canal to regional and transcontinental railroads to the Interstate Highway System and, more recently, to the Internet.

The build-out of the surface road network during the Great Depression generated large private-sector benefits, contributing to very fast productivity growth in transportation -railroads and trucking - as well as in wholesale and retail distribution.

High-speed rail projects could certainly create jobs and stimulate the economy in the short run. Whether they would generate benefits similar to those of other government funded infrastructure projects is uncertain. History suggests, however, that there's a good chance they would.

This essay is available to McClatchy-Tribune News Service subscribers. McClatchy-Tribune did not subsidize the writing of this column; the opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of McClatchy-Tribune or its editors.

"Good advisors are managers of both wealth and well-being ... s] good physicians ...manage both health and well-being," says behavioral-finance guru Meir Statman.

Meir Statman, the Glenn Klimek Professor of Finance at the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University, and a visiting professor at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, is a leading expert on behavioral finance. His latest book, What Investors Really Want, has recently been published by McGraw-Hill, and he has a regular blog on the topic.

For the second interview in my Five Good Question series, I spoke with him about how advisors can better manage their clients' financial health, portfolios and other matters.

Q. In your book, you note that most advisors tend to see investing as essentially utilitarian and that doing so is a mistake. What does that mean, and why is it a mistake?

A. High returns with low risk are utilitarian benefits of investments, and some advisors focus on these. They construct for their clients retirement portfolios with asset allocations such that clients are likely to receive the highest returns for the level of risk they are willing to take.

But think of a prospect who says to an advisor, "I abhor the damage done by tobacco and want no stocks of tobacco companies in my portfolio." That prospect cares about the expressive benefits of her investments, expressing herself as a socially responsible investor, and the emotional benefits of staying true to her values.

Some advisors are inclined to say: "My role is to get you the highest returns for the level of risk with is right for you. I'll include tobacco stocks in your portfolio because they yield high returns, and you can spend these high returns on anti-smoking campaigns." It is fair to guess that this prospect would not turn into a client.

Expressive and emotional benefits extend much beyond social responsibility. Some investors want the expressive and emotional benefits of "playing" the stock market, even if trading costs diminish returns and their utilitarian benefits. Some want the status of hedge funds and private equity.

Think of the pride of investors who were offered shares of Facebook by Goldman Sachs. And some hate taxes so much that they would rather lose with tax-free investments than gain with taxable investments.

Q. You make the point that our role as advisors is to be "financial physicians." What might that look like?

A. Advisors often describe themselves as "wealth managers," but good advisors are managers of both wealth and well-being, in that they are similar to good physicians who manage both health and well-being.

This includes asking questions about goals and concerns, listening carefully before jumping to asset allocation, empathizing with clients who are distressed because of a disables child or impending divorce, educating about financial markets and human behavior, prescribing portfolios and other components of financial plans, and following up on treatment.

Q.You also explain that investors want education. What are some ways that good advisors can provide education effectively?

Clients benefit from education about investments and financial markets and education about investor behavior. There are many myths about investments, such as that market timing is easy.

Advisors should counter myths by the tools of science, providing scientific evidence that market timers are more likely to hurt themselves than help themselves. There are many behavioral pitfalls, such as overconfidence.

Advisors should provide the scientific evidence about the harmful effects of overconfidence and other cognitive errors and emotions. Elements of education include face-to-face meetings, brief emails or newsletters explaining cognitive errors and emotions, and "client appreciation" events featuring experts on investments and investment behavior.

Q. You also show that investors want advice. What do you mean by that and how is that different from what advisors typically provide?

A. Advisors always provide advice, but the focus of that advice is sometimes restricted to investments and conversations are more likely to be about what goes on at the Fed rather than what goes on in clients' lives and the lives of their families.

Yet advisors can serve clients better by focusing on their lives and the lives of their families. Such focus also promotes trust and loyalty in clients.

Q. Finally, you stress that investors want protection. How can good advisors offer protection to their clients?

A. Good advisors can protect clients from others, explaining why they should be wary of people who offer investments which are too good to be true. And they should protect clients from themselves, explaining how fear and exuberance mislead investors and creating structures to protect investors from themselves.

For example, advisors can set a rule by which implementation of changes to portfolios are delayed by a week or month so clients can "cool off" and make better choices.

...frequent traveler: You share. The bigger guy gets the forward part of the armrest. Anna Post, etiquette expert: There is no inate winner of the arm-rest battle. If I'm in the middle seat, I try to claim one. They are not both yours for the duration. Kirk Hanson, Santa Clara University ethics professor: Fairness requires the allocation of at least one arm rest to each traveler. Therefore, the side seats get the "outbound" armrests away from the middle seat. The middle passenger gets...

Have you earned the right to lead? | View Clip03/17/2011Snow Magazine - Online

Home News Have you earned the right to lead?

Leadership expert John Hamm says there are ten deeply destructive mistakes most leaders make that suggest the answer is "No." Plus, how you can begin making changes today.

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There are people in every organization you know whose titles indicate they are leaders. Often, and unfortunately, their employees beg to differ. Oh, they don't say it directly, not to the boss's face, anyway. They say it with their ho-hum performance, their games of avoidance, their dearth of enthusiasm. Leaders—real leaders who have mastered their craft—don't preside over such lackluster followers. If reading this makes you squirm with recognition, leadership expert John Hamm says you may have a problem lurking.

You're really just masquerading. You haven't yet earned the right to lead.

“When times are good, not-so-great leaders can get by,” says Hamm, author of "Unusually Excellent: The Necessary Nine Skills Required for the Practice of Great Leadership" (Jossey-Bass/A Wiley Imprint) “They're cushioned by a surplus of cash, and their missteps are covered up by the thrill of top-line growth, which hides a multitude of sins. But when the cloak of prosperity falls away, their mediocrity is ruthlessly exposed.

“Real leadership equity is only earned, not bestowed,” he adds. “Just because you have been granted authority doesn't mean you're getting the full, collaborative engagement of your employees. You may have their bodies and time forty or fifty hours a week, but until you earn the privilege, from their point of view, you'll never have their hearts and minds.”

Hamm has spent his career studying the practitioners of great leadership via his work as a venture capitalist, board member, high-level consultant, and professor of leadership at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. In his new book, he shares what he has learned and brings those lessons to life with real-world stories.

Unusually Excellent is a powerful back-to-basics reference book that offers both seasoned and aspiring leaders a framework for understanding and a guide for applying the battle-tested fundamentals of leadership at every stage of their careers.

“These aren't radically new ideas,” asserts Hamm. “Human nature hasn't changed that much over the millennia, so neither have the core laws of leadership. It's just that in the heat of the day-to-day battle, leaders inevitably lose their grip on the basic principles of leadership. In other cases, they never learned these fundamentals or mastered them earlier in their career. And finally, sad to say, some people just aren't cut out to lead and need to understand why.”

“Normal” leadership is a complex system of behaviors that can tolerate a lot of little mistakes, explains Hamm. Extraordinary leadership cannot.

Think about it this way: Anyone can snap a photo that looks okay or cook a meal that satiates hunger. However, when an award-winning photographer takes the picture, or a five-star chef prepares dinner, anyone can tell a master has been at work. The same is true of leadership. The small deficiencies in how the novice leads, as opposed to the unusually excellent professional, create a radical difference in the outcome.

So how can you tell whether you really are a great leader in the minds of your employees—or whether, to paraphrase the old television commercial, you're just playing one on TV? Unfortunately, the depth and breadth of the mistakes you make often tell the true tale.

Authenticity is about owning your failures and shortcomings. It's about allowing others to really know you, vulnerabilities, warts, and all. It's about having the guts to seek feedback from others in a sincere and genuine fashion. And it's about being able to maintain your authentic self in a situation of meaningful consequence—where your decisions affect others, sometimes on a grand scale and sometimes in very personal or dramatic ways.

Knowing who you really are and holding true to yourself in the most difficult moments is the “ground zero” of leadership credibility. It's the only way to create the trusted connections you need to lead with real influence. Unfortunately, leaders stumble for a variety of reasons: They get scared and veer away at the last moment, or they sacrifice the truth on the altar of protecting other people's feelings, or they simply seek to avoid the pain of conflict.

“When we make the decision to compromise our authenticity, we end up delivering a message that may feel ‘easier' but that isn't truly what we want or need to say,” explains Hamm. “Deception conspires with fear and seduces us down a dark road of believing we can ‘fake it,' just this one time and it will all be okay.

“But the downstream impact of making such a choice in a moment of stress or carelessness can be devastating,” he adds. “For one thing, it compromises the integrity of that all-important communications channel between leader and follower by changing expectations about the behavior of both. Worse, it sets a precedent for this type of authentic behavior that over time can trap a leader into an expectation or pattern of always behaving that way—and over the course of years this is a soul-destroying situation.”

MISTAKE #2: Underestimating the impact of small acts of dishonesty.

In his book, Hamm describes an incident that took place at a famous, fast-growing technology company. A young, inexperienced, but talented associate had what he thought was a plan for a powerful new marketing initiative. So he asked the CMO to broker a meeting with the CEO to make a presentation on the subject. The CMO agreed, and the meeting took place.

During the presentation the CEO was polite, if noncommittal. He gave the presenter a sort of passively accepting feedback—“Nice point,” “Interesting,” and so on—and wrapped up the meeting quickly, thanking the presenter for his initiative. But the CMO could sense a duplicity in the CEO's behavior and attitude as the parties all headed back to their respective offices. Then, ten minutes after the meeting, the CEO called the CMO into his office and said, in essence, “That presentation was absolutely terrible. That guy's an idiot. I want you to fire him, today.”

“The story of the firing spread (as it always does) throughout the company, morale slipped, and the CMO never completely trusted his boss again,” writes Hamm. “The CEO's reputation for trustworthiness had been wounded forever. The wreckage from one seemingly small act of dishonesty was strewn all over the company and could never be completely cleaned up.”

MISTAKE #3: Being two-faced (and assuming others won't notice).

In another scenario from Hamm's book, a CEO had one executive on his team whom he really trusted and in whom he could confide. One day, a couple of other members of that company's executive team made a presentation at a board meeting that didn't go so well. Later, as they were walking down a hallway, the CEO turned to his trusted executive and said, “We need to get rid of those guys. They were a disaster at the board meeting—they embarrassed me.”

But then nothing happened. Life at the company went on as before, and the targeted executives remained in their jobs. In the months that passed, the trusted executive found himself in meetings attended by both the CEO and the targeted executives. And it was as if the whole incident had never happened. The CEO joked with the men, complimented them on their work, and treated them as long-term team members.

As the trusted executive watched this, he asked himself: Did the boss mean what he said? Does he ever mean what he says? Did he change his mind—and when did that happen? Or is he too gutless to follow through with his plans? And if he's willing to stab those guys in the back and then pretend to be their trusting partner, how do I know he hasn't been doing the same thing with me? Just how duplicitous is this guy?

“Such are the dangers of shooting from the hip without realizing that a communication such as the one just described does not qualify as a ‘casual' comment—once said, it must be resolved, and if it is not, there is a lingering odor that in one way or another, will remain smelly until fixed,” writes Hamm.

MISTAKE #4: Squelching the flow of bad news.

Do you (or others under you) shoot the messenger when she brings you bad news? If so, you can be certain that the messenger's priority is not bringing you the information you need: It's protecting her own hide. That's why in most organizations good news zooms to the top, while bad news—data that reveals goals missed, problems lurking, or feedback that challenges or defeats our strategy—flows uphill like molasses in January.

Unusually excellent leaders understand this reality, says Hamm. To combat it they work hard to build a primary and insatiable demand for the unvarnished facts, the raw data, the actual measurements, the honest feedback, the real information.

“We must install a confidence and a trust that leaders in the organization value the facts, the truth, and the speed of delivery, not the judgments or interpretations of ‘good' or ‘bad,' and that messengers are valued, not shot,” writes Hamm. “If we can do this then the entire behavior pattern of performance information flow will change for the better…Very few efforts will yield the payback associated with improving the speed and accuracy of the information you need most to make difficult or complex decisions.”

MISTAKE #5: Punishing “good failures.”

Great organizations encourage risk-taking. Why? Because innovation requires it. There can be no reward without risk. But if your employees take a risk and fail, and you come down on them like a hammer, guess what? They'll never risk anything again. Unusually excellent leaders deliberately create high-risk, low-cost environments—a.k.a. cultures of trust—where people don't live in fear of the consequences of failure.

Hamm says a digital camera is the perfect analogy to the kind of culture you want to create.

“There is no expense associated with a flawed digital photograph—financial or otherwise,” he explains. “You just hit the ‘delete' button, and it disappears. No wasted film, slides, or prints. And we are aware of this relationship between mistakes and consequences when we pick up the camera—so we click away, taking many more photos digitally than we would have in a world of costly film. Because we know failure is free, we take chances, and in that effort we often get that one amazing picture that we wouldn't have if we were paying for all the mistakes.”

MISTAKE #6: Letting employee enthusiasm fizzle.

A big part of a leader's job is to be compelling. That means you must recruit “A players” through a big vision of the future and a personal commitment to a mission. But it's not enough to recruit once and then move on. Never assume “once enrolled, always enrolled.” Even the best followers need to be reminded again and again how fun, rewarding, and meaningful their work is.

In other words, when people seem to be losing their spark, they need to become “born again” employees. (Time to put on your evangelist cloak!)

“Enthusiasm is a renewable resource,” says Hamm. “Part of being compelling is reminding yourself that people want and need to be reenrolled all the time. This message doesn't have to be over the top to be compelling. It may just entail reminding your team, once per quarter, why you come to the office every day, and letting them reflect on the reason they do the same.”

MISTAKE #7: Refusing to deal with your “weakest links.”

Chronic underperformers spoil things for everyone else. They create resentment among employees who are giving it their all, and they drag down productivity. Leaders must have a plan for getting these problem children off the playground—and they must act on that plan without procrastination.

“The worst scenario of all is to have a plan for dealing with underperformers, to identify who those individuals are, and then not pull the trigger on the announced consequences, for reasons of sentimentality, weakness, or favoritism—or worst of all, an attempt to preserve leadership popularity,” writes Hamm.

Nothing can be more damaging to the morale and esprit de corps of a team than that kind of leadership. It destroys your authenticity, your trustworthiness, and your ability to compel others to act. It is the end of you as a leader. Indeed, it is better to have no weakest-link plan at all than one with obvious liabilities.

MISTAKE #8: Allowing people to “fail elegantly.”

There are two basic operating modes for organizations under high-stakes execution pressure, writes Hamm. One is the mentality of winning, which we know about; the other, less obvious to the untrained eye, the disease of failing elegantly, is a very sophisticated and veiled set of coping behaviors by individuals, the purpose of which is to avoid the oncoming train of embarrassment when the cover comes off the lousy results that we'd prefer no one ever sees.

Essentially, when people stop believing they can win, some then devote their energy to how best to lose. This fancy losing often manifests as excuse-making, blaming, tolerating cut corners, and manipulating and editorializing data. Unusually excellent leaders know how to recognize these symptoms and intervene with urgency and strength of conviction to get everyone on the high road—a.k.a., the winner's mindset.

“Passive acceptance of failure, and the rationalization that always goes with it, is a cancer that can begin anywhere in the organization, then metastasize to every office, including your own,” says Hamm. “You can prevent it by setting clear and precise standards of behavior for everyone on the team, as well as clear consequences for the violation of those standards. And you can control it through continuous and open communication with every member of your team (some who will spot the problem before you do) and, where necessary, redundant processes and systems.

“Most of all, you can cure the acceptance of failure by setting yourself as an example of zero tolerance (along with a welcome for honest admissions of error), of precision and care in all of your work, a clear-eyed focus on unvarnished results, and most of all, an unyielding and unwavering commitment to your success.”

MISTAKE #9: Delaying decisions until it's too late.

Not making a decision is almost always worse than making a bad decision, says Hamm. As long as they aren't utterly ill-advised and catastrophic, bad decisions at least keep the organization moving in pace with changing events—and thus can often be rectified by a course correction.

Not making a decision at all, although it may seem the safe choice—because, intellectually, it positions you to make the right move when the reality of the situation is more revealed—actually strips your organization of its momentum, stalling it at the starting line, and makes it highly unlikely that you can ever get up to speed in time to be a serious player.

“Unusually excellent leaders don't just make decisions; they pursue them,” writes Hamm. “Because the speed of the organization is often its destiny—and because that speed directly correlates with the speed with which its decisions are made or not made—these leaders are haunted by the fear that somewhere in the organization a critical decision is being left orphaned and unmade.”

Hamm tells the story of John Adler, who, prior to his CEO tenure at Adaptec, was a senior vice president at Amdahl, one of the pioneering computer companies of Silicon Valley. One morning as he was walking down the long hallway to his office, he encountered some maintenance guys who were doing repairs. He greeted them cheerfully and then, just to make conversation, mentioned how difficult it must be to work in such a dark hallway.

The next morning when Adler came to work, he was surprised to find five maintenance men all carefully replacing every light bulb in the hallway. When he questioned the flurry of activity, the men said, “We're replacing the light bulbs, boss. You said it was too dark in here.” Hamm says this story illustrates why leaders need to think carefully about every word they say—because others certainly will.

“Every conversation with, and every communication from, a leader carries added weight because of the authority of the position behind it,” writes Hamm. “Have a bad day and snap at one of your subordinates, and that person may go back to a cramped cubicle and start updating his résumé, or go out and get drunk, or miss a night's sleep. Your momentary bad day could be his nightmare—and something he will remember forever. Your mood matters; don't make it your employees' problem.”

So if you recognize any of these mistakes in yourself, are you forever doomed as a leader? Of course not, says Hamm. We're all human, and we can all learn from our errors and redeem ourselves. And yet, he adds, there is no shame in realizing that leadership is not for everyone—or in declining to lead if it's not for you. (In your heart you probably already know.)

“Leadership is a choice,” he says. “It is a deep, burning desire to engage with people and rally a community to achieve greatness. Leadership can be difficult, thankless, frustrating, maddening work at times. It is only the passion of leading on the field—the thrill of looking other human beings in the eyes and seeing their energy, willingness, trust, and commitment—that makes it all worthwhile, in a very quiet, private way.”

About the Author:

John Hamm is one of the top leadership experts in Silicon Valley. He was named one of the country's Top 100 venture capitalists in 2009 by AlwaysOn and has led investments in many successful high-growth companies as a partner at several Bay Area VC firms. Hamm has also been a CEO, a board member at over thirty companies, and a CEO adviser and executive coach to senior leaders at companies such as Documentum, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, TaylorMade-adidas Golf and McAfee. John teaches leadership at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University.

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Have you earned the right to lead? | View Clip03/17/2011Golf Course Industry - Online

Home News Have you earned the right to lead?

Leadership expert John Hamm says there are ten deeply destructive mistakes most leaders make that suggest the answer is "No." Plus, how you can begin making changes today.

There are people in every organization you know whose titles indicate they are leaders. Often, and unfortunately, their employees beg to differ. Oh, they don't say it directly, not to the boss's face, anyway. They say it with their ho-hum performance, their games of avoidance, their dearth of enthusiasm. Leaders—real leaders who have mastered their craft—don't preside over such lackluster followers. If reading this makes you squirm with recognition, leadership expert John Hamm says you may have a problem lurking.

You're really just masquerading. You haven't yet earned the right to lead.

“When times are good, not-so-great leaders can get by,” says Hamm, author of "Unusually Excellent: The Necessary Nine Skills Required for the Practice of Great Leadership" (Jossey-Bass/A Wiley Imprint) “They're cushioned by a surplus of cash, and their missteps are covered up by the thrill of top-line growth, which hides a multitude of sins. But when the cloak of prosperity falls away, their mediocrity is ruthlessly exposed.

“Real leadership equity is only earned, not bestowed,” he adds. “Just because you have been granted authority doesn't mean you're getting the full, collaborative engagement of your employees. You may have their bodies and time forty or fifty hours a week, but until you earn the privilege, from their point of view, you'll never have their hearts and minds.”

Hamm has spent his career studying the practitioners of great leadership via his work as a venture capitalist, board member, high-level consultant, and professor of leadership at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. In his new book, he shares what he has learned and brings those lessons to life with real-world stories.

Unusually Excellent is a powerful back-to-basics reference book that offers both seasoned and aspiring leaders a framework for understanding and a guide for applying the battle-tested fundamentals of leadership at every stage of their careers.

“These aren't radically new ideas,” asserts Hamm. “Human nature hasn't changed that much over the millennia, so neither have the core laws of leadership. It's just that in the heat of the day-to-day battle, leaders inevitably lose their grip on the basic principles of leadership. In other cases, they never learned these fundamentals or mastered them earlier in their career. And finally, sad to say, some people just aren't cut out to lead and need to understand why.”

“Normal” leadership is a complex system of behaviors that can tolerate a lot of little mistakes, explains Hamm. Extraordinary leadership cannot.

Think about it this way: Anyone can snap a photo that looks okay or cook a meal that satiates hunger. However, when an award-winning photographer takes the picture, or a five-star chef prepares dinner, anyone can tell a master has been at work. The same is true of leadership. The small deficiencies in how the novice leads, as opposed to the unusually excellent professional, create a radical difference in the outcome.

So how can you tell whether you really are a great leader in the minds of your employees—or whether, to paraphrase the old television commercial, you're just playing one on TV? Unfortunately, the depth and breadth of the mistakes you make often tell the true tale.

Authenticity is about owning your failures and shortcomings. It's about allowing others to really know you, vulnerabilities, warts, and all. It's about having the guts to seek feedback from others in a sincere and genuine fashion. And it's about being able to maintain your authentic self in a situation of meaningful consequence—where your decisions affect others, sometimes on a grand scale and sometimes in very personal or dramatic ways.

Knowing who you really are and holding true to yourself in the most difficult moments is the “ground zero” of leadership credibility. It's the only way to create the trusted connections you need to lead with real influence. Unfortunately, leaders stumble for a variety of reasons: They get scared and veer away at the last moment, or they sacrifice the truth on the altar of protecting other people's feelings, or they simply seek to avoid the pain of conflict.

“When we make the decision to compromise our authenticity, we end up delivering a message that may feel ‘easier' but that isn't truly what we want or need to say,” explains Hamm. “Deception conspires with fear and seduces us down a dark road of believing we can ‘fake it,' just this one time and it will all be okay.

“But the downstream impact of making such a choice in a moment of stress or carelessness can be devastating,” he adds. “For one thing, it compromises the integrity of that all-important communications channel between leader and follower by changing expectations about the behavior of both. Worse, it sets a precedent for this type of authentic behavior that over time can trap a leader into an expectation or pattern of always behaving that way—and over the course of years this is a soul-destroying situation.”

MISTAKE #2: Underestimating the impact of small acts of dishonesty.

In his book, Hamm describes an incident that took place at a famous, fast-growing technology company. A young, inexperienced, but talented associate had what he thought was a plan for a powerful new marketing initiative. So he asked the CMO to broker a meeting with the CEO to make a presentation on the subject. The CMO agreed, and the meeting took place.

During the presentation the CEO was polite, if noncommittal. He gave the presenter a sort of passively accepting feedback—“Nice point,” “Interesting,” and so on—and wrapped up the meeting quickly, thanking the presenter for his initiative. But the CMO could sense a duplicity in the CEO's behavior and attitude as the parties all headed back to their respective offices. Then, ten minutes after the meeting, the CEO called the CMO into his office and said, in essence, “That presentation was absolutely terrible. That guy's an idiot. I want you to fire him, today.”

“The story of the firing spread (as it always does) throughout the company, morale slipped, and the CMO never completely trusted his boss again,” writes Hamm. “The CEO's reputation for trustworthiness had been wounded forever. The wreckage from one seemingly small act of dishonesty was strewn all over the company and could never be completely cleaned up.”

MISTAKE #3: Being two-faced (and assuming others won't notice).

In another scenario from Hamm's book, a CEO had one executive on his team whom he really trusted and in whom he could confide. One day, a couple of other members of that company's executive team made a presentation at a board meeting that didn't go so well. Later, as they were walking down a hallway, the CEO turned to his trusted executive and said, “We need to get rid of those guys. They were a disaster at the board meeting—they embarrassed me.”

But then nothing happened. Life at the company went on as before, and the targeted executives remained in their jobs. In the months that passed, the trusted executive found himself in meetings attended by both the CEO and the targeted executives. And it was as if the whole incident had never happened. The CEO joked with the men, complimented them on their work, and treated them as long-term team members.

As the trusted executive watched this, he asked himself: Did the boss mean what he said? Does he ever mean what he says? Did he change his mind—and when did that happen? Or is he too gutless to follow through with his plans? And if he's willing to stab those guys in the back and then pretend to be their trusting partner, how do I know he hasn't been doing the same thing with me? Just how duplicitous is this guy?

“Such are the dangers of shooting from the hip without realizing that a communication such as the one just described does not qualify as a ‘casual' comment—once said, it must be resolved, and if it is not, there is a lingering odor that in one way or another, will remain smelly until fixed,” writes Hamm.

MISTAKE #4: Squelching the flow of bad news.

Do you (or others under you) shoot the messenger when she brings you bad news? If so, you can be certain that the messenger's priority is not bringing you the information you need: It's protecting her own hide. That's why in most organizations good news zooms to the top, while bad news—data that reveals goals missed, problems lurking, or feedback that challenges or defeats our strategy—flows uphill like molasses in January.

Unusually excellent leaders understand this reality, says Hamm. To combat it they work hard to build a primary and insatiable demand for the unvarnished facts, the raw data, the actual measurements, the honest feedback, the real information.

“We must install a confidence and a trust that leaders in the organization value the facts, the truth, and the speed of delivery, not the judgments or interpretations of ‘good' or ‘bad,' and that messengers are valued, not shot,” writes Hamm. “If we can do this then the entire behavior pattern of performance information flow will change for the better…Very few efforts will yield the payback associated with improving the speed and accuracy of the information you need most to make difficult or complex decisions.”

MISTAKE #5: Punishing “good failures.”

Great organizations encourage risk-taking. Why? Because innovation requires it. There can be no reward without risk. But if your employees take a risk and fail, and you come down on them like a hammer, guess what? They'll never risk anything again. Unusually excellent leaders deliberately create high-risk, low-cost environments—a.k.a. cultures of trust—where people don't live in fear of the consequences of failure.

Hamm says a digital camera is the perfect analogy to the kind of culture you want to create.

“There is no expense associated with a flawed digital photograph—financial or otherwise,” he explains. “You just hit the ‘delete' button, and it disappears. No wasted film, slides, or prints. And we are aware of this relationship between mistakes and consequences when we pick up the camera—so we click away, taking many more photos digitally than we would have in a world of costly film. Because we know failure is free, we take chances, and in that effort we often get that one amazing picture that we wouldn't have if we were paying for all the mistakes.”

MISTAKE #6: Letting employee enthusiasm fizzle.

A big part of a leader's job is to be compelling. That means you must recruit “A players” through a big vision of the future and a personal commitment to a mission. But it's not enough to recruit once and then move on. Never assume “once enrolled, always enrolled.” Even the best followers need to be reminded again and again how fun, rewarding, and meaningful their work is.

In other words, when people seem to be losing their spark, they need to become “born again” employees. (Time to put on your evangelist cloak!)

“Enthusiasm is a renewable resource,” says Hamm. “Part of being compelling is reminding yourself that people want and need to be reenrolled all the time. This message doesn't have to be over the top to be compelling. It may just entail reminding your team, once per quarter, why you come to the office every day, and letting them reflect on the reason they do the same.”

MISTAKE #7: Refusing to deal with your “weakest links.”

Chronic underperformers spoil things for everyone else. They create resentment among employees who are giving it their all, and they drag down productivity. Leaders must have a plan for getting these problem children off the playground—and they must act on that plan without procrastination.

“The worst scenario of all is to have a plan for dealing with underperformers, to identify who those individuals are, and then not pull the trigger on the announced consequences, for reasons of sentimentality, weakness, or favoritism—or worst of all, an attempt to preserve leadership popularity,” writes Hamm.

Nothing can be more damaging to the morale and esprit de corps of a team than that kind of leadership. It destroys your authenticity, your trustworthiness, and your ability to compel others to act. It is the end of you as a leader. Indeed, it is better to have no weakest-link plan at all than one with obvious liabilities.

MISTAKE #8: Allowing people to “fail elegantly.”

There are two basic operating modes for organizations under high-stakes execution pressure, writes Hamm. One is the mentality of winning, which we know about; the other, less obvious to the untrained eye, the disease of failing elegantly, is a very sophisticated and veiled set of coping behaviors by individuals, the purpose of which is to avoid the oncoming train of embarrassment when the cover comes off the lousy results that we'd prefer no one ever sees.

Essentially, when people stop believing they can win, some then devote their energy to how best to lose. This fancy losing often manifests as excuse-making, blaming, tolerating cut corners, and manipulating and editorializing data. Unusually excellent leaders know how to recognize these symptoms and intervene with urgency and strength of conviction to get everyone on the high road—a.k.a., the winner's mindset.

“Passive acceptance of failure, and the rationalization that always goes with it, is a cancer that can begin anywhere in the organization, then metastasize to every office, including your own,” says Hamm. “You can prevent it by setting clear and precise standards of behavior for everyone on the team, as well as clear consequences for the violation of those standards. And you can control it through continuous and open communication with every member of your team (some who will spot the problem before you do) and, where necessary, redundant processes and systems.

“Most of all, you can cure the acceptance of failure by setting yourself as an example of zero tolerance (along with a welcome for honest admissions of error), of precision and care in all of your work, a clear-eyed focus on unvarnished results, and most of all, an unyielding and unwavering commitment to your success.”

MISTAKE #9: Delaying decisions until it's too late.

Not making a decision is almost always worse than making a bad decision, says Hamm. As long as they aren't utterly ill-advised and catastrophic, bad decisions at least keep the organization moving in pace with changing events—and thus can often be rectified by a course correction.

Not making a decision at all, although it may seem the safe choice—because, intellectually, it positions you to make the right move when the reality of the situation is more revealed—actually strips your organization of its momentum, stalling it at the starting line, and makes it highly unlikely that you can ever get up to speed in time to be a serious player.

“Unusually excellent leaders don't just make decisions; they pursue them,” writes Hamm. “Because the speed of the organization is often its destiny—and because that speed directly correlates with the speed with which its decisions are made or not made—these leaders are haunted by the fear that somewhere in the organization a critical decision is being left orphaned and unmade.”

Hamm tells the story of John Adler, who, prior to his CEO tenure at Adaptec, was a senior vice president at Amdahl, one of the pioneering computer companies of Silicon Valley. One morning as he was walking down the long hallway to his office, he encountered some maintenance guys who were doing repairs. He greeted them cheerfully and then, just to make conversation, mentioned how difficult it must be to work in such a dark hallway.

The next morning when Adler came to work, he was surprised to find five maintenance men all carefully replacing every light bulb in the hallway. When he questioned the flurry of activity, the men said, “We're replacing the light bulbs, boss. You said it was too dark in here.” Hamm says this story illustrates why leaders need to think carefully about every word they say—because others certainly will.

“Every conversation with, and every communication from, a leader carries added weight because of the authority of the position behind it,” writes Hamm. “Have a bad day and snap at one of your subordinates, and that person may go back to a cramped cubicle and start updating his résumé, or go out and get drunk, or miss a night's sleep. Your momentary bad day could be his nightmare—and something he will remember forever. Your mood matters; don't make it your employees' problem.”

So if you recognize any of these mistakes in yourself, are you forever doomed as a leader? Of course not, says Hamm. We're all human, and we can all learn from our errors and redeem ourselves. And yet, he adds, there is no shame in realizing that leadership is not for everyone—or in declining to lead if it's not for you. (In your heart you probably already know.)

“Leadership is a choice,” he says. “It is a deep, burning desire to engage with people and rally a community to achieve greatness. Leadership can be difficult, thankless, frustrating, maddening work at times. It is only the passion of leading on the field—the thrill of looking other human beings in the eyes and seeing their energy, willingness, trust, and commitment—that makes it all worthwhile, in a very quiet, private way.”

About the Author

John Hamm is one of the top leadership experts in Silicon Valley. He was named one of the country's Top 100 venture capitalists in 2009 by AlwaysOn and has led investments in many successful high-growth companies as a partner at several Bay Area VC firms. Hamm has also been a CEO, a board member at over thirty companies, and a CEO adviser and executive coach to senior leaders at companies such as Documentum, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, TaylorMade-adidas Golf and McAfee. John teaches leadership at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University.

A day of rest enters the Digital Age | View Clip03/17/2011Los Angeles Times - Online

Television writer-producer Jill Soloway turned off her electronic devices for 24 hours last Saturday and spent the morning playing with her 2-year-old son in her yard in Silver Lake.

"It was excruciating and kind of wonderful. I struggled with a feeling of anxiety that there was something in my inbox I needed to tend to," she said. "Then came a moment when it felt like a holiday. Holiday means holy day. What a huge gift."

Soloway, executive producer of the Showtime series "United States of Tara," and a self-described smartphone junkie, was taking part in the "National Day of Unplugging," organized by Reboot, a group of urban media professionals who try to reconnect with Jewish tradition in a way that is meaningful to their hectic lives.

The day of unplugging, now in its second year, grew out of the nonprofit group's Sabbath Manifesto, a list of 10 once-a-week principles rooted in the Judeo-Christian day of rest, but applicable to people of any faith or no faith at all.

Soloway, who now hopes to unplug every week, says it is spiritually fulfilling to redefine one's personal space in the Digital Age. "The inbox is always open in my brain and anyone can get in any time and access me," she said. "Turning it off is taking back control. I decide who gets in. It's about emotional privacy, having a self."

Because participants were logged off computers, smartphones and other devices, Reboot representatives say they don't know exactly how many took the 24-hour challenge. But a spokesman said the Sabbath Manifesto page on the group's website received 260,000 hits in the weeks before the event.

And Reboot enlisted 125 organizations with a combined reach of 840,000 people, including Jewish community centers, volunteer groups and museums, to provide participants with alternative plans for the day. In many cases, those unplugging could tuck their cellphones into little canvas "sleeping bags" while they were visiting exhibits, feeding the homeless or holding worship services.

Participants can also download a Sabbath Manifesto smartphone application that alerts friends and colleagues that they are unreachable. Available headers include "Digital Detox" and "Low-Tech."

Courtney Holt, outgoing president of Music and a Reboot board member, said he used the app to notify 1,000 people on his and lists that he was spending last Saturday offline. "People that I know definitely let me have this day," said Holt, also of Silver Lake.

Altogether, Reboot counted 16,000 Tweets going out about the day of unplugging. "It's not ironic. It sounds cheeky, but it's precisely the point," Holt said of using a smartphone application to wean people from their smartphones.

Holt took his children roller-skating and out for burgers over the weekend, then to a concert. He and his wife never totally shut off the phones in case of an emergency.

"I don't feel a personal need to keep the Sabbath. I do feel a need to have a better connection with my family and disconnect with what I'm pressured with all week," Holt said. "It's to be a better person and father. That sounds Jewish to me, although an Orthodox person might disagree."

Elizabeth Drescher, a Santa Clara University religion lecturer, says the Sabbath app is the latest in a series that various faith groups are using to reach people where they dwell — in a digital landscape.

"I don't know of a religious group that doesn't" use new media, Drescher said. "Some do it better than others. They get that it's not just broadcast media on steroids. It's not bigger, better TV where you get your message out. It must be social and interactive."

There is a controversial confession app in which Catholics can unburden themselves and receive penance via cellphone without interacting with clergy. There is an Islam-based app that tracks the sun's movement through the sky so Muslims will know when to pray. And "The Virtual Abbey" tweets prayers to recipients several times a day.

As Drescher also noted in a recent article in Religion Dispatches magazine, shutting down electronic devices might help to create a zone of spirituality for "young urban hipsters," but for others, including some who live in rural areas, turning on the technology may enhance the spiritual experience.

"I know thousands of people who use technology to pray together," Drescher said. "Connection is important to spirituality."

Writer Christopher Noxon said today's digital tools — or at times, refraining from using them — have made a major difference in his life.

"Television and computer screens had become our babysitters on weekends and that doesn't happen anymore," Noxon said. Once a week for the past year, his family has eliminated activities that require a screen, he said.

Last Saturday, Noxon and two of his children volunteered at a Santa Monica homeless center. "It's really not enough to just unplug," he said. "You need a priority, an intention."

His family concludes each Saturday with its own havdalah, a service marking the Sabbath's close, in which each person states what he or she wants to leave behind from the previous week and what to carry over to the new week.

"I don't think of it as a spiritual practice but a human practice," Noxon said. "It's enough for me that it works as a betterment exercise. I leave God out of it. I don't need to name what it is. I just know it works."

Entrepreneurial studies at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management did a swan dive yesterday (March 15) in U.S. News & World Report's new 2011 specialty ranking for entrepreneurship. Kellogg plummeted 11 full places to a rank of 22nd from 11th last year, the deepest fall of any of the 28 schools on U.S. News' specialty ranking for entrepreneurship.

Not surprisingly, Babson College again held on to the top spot in entrepreneurship, followed by Stanford, MIT's Sloan School, Harvard Business School and Wharton–exactly the same top five on U.S. News' 2010 list. Harvard failed to gain ground despite major efforts to both increase and more aggressively promote its entrepreneurship activity on the Boston campus.

Entrepreneurship is one of the hottest areas of study at many top business schools. A higher percentage of graduates are now pursuing startups today than at any other time with the sole exception of the dot-com boom in the late 1990s. So which schools have the best programs in entrepreneurship have taken on greater meaning than ever before. That's why U.S. News' take is likely to get more attention than it has in the past.

Besides Kellogg's 11-point plunge, North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School lost ground, dropping eight places to 20th from 12th last year, and Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business also fell eight spots to 24th from 16th.

The U.S. News specialty ranking in entrepreneurship–released along with the magazine's overall ratings of the best business schools–is based entirely on a poll of deans and MBA program directors. U.S. News asks B-school administrators to name and rank the finance departments of the schools, even though they are likely to have no direct knowledge of these programs. Respondents then are largely selecting schools on the basis of their overall reputations in a given field–and they will likely name their own schools on the survey even if they don't deserve to be there.

This flaw was highlighted recently by New Yorker staff writer Malcolm Gladwell in a scathing critique of the U.S. News methodology for its overall ranking of colleges.

Nonetheless, the U.S. News poll is a proxy for the general reputation and image of a school in a core teaching area and worth some bragging rights.

The biggest year-over-year gainers were Rice University's Jones School of Business, which moved up seven places to 14th from 21st, and St. Louis University's Cook School of Business, which rose eight spots to a rank of 13th from 21st. The increase by St. Louis University, the largest one-year gain of any school in entrepreneurship, now means that the school is ranked much higher than Northwestern–a highly improbable result that will only go to increase the controversy surrounding these rankings.

U.S. News put four new schools on its entrepreneurship list: No. 20 Maryland, and three schools tied for 24th, Brigham Young, Marquette, and Rensselaer Polytechnic's Lally School of Business. One business school fell off the ranking list: DePaul University's Kellstadt School, which was ranked 24th last year.

School & 2011 U.S. News Rank 2010 Rank Difference

1. Babson College (Olin) Babson Park, MA 1 ——

2. Stanford Graduate School of Business Palo Alto, CA 2 ——

3. MIT (Sloan) Cambridge, MA 3 ——

4. Harvard Business School Boston, MA 4 ——

5. Pennsylvania (Wharton) Philadelphia, PA 5 ——

6. California-Berkeley (Haas) Berkeley, CA 7 +1

7. Texas-Austin (McCombs) Austin, TX 9 +2

8. Southern California (Marshall) Los Angeles, CA 7 -1

9. Indiana-Bloomington (Kelley) Bloomington, IN 6 -3

10. University of Arizona (Eller) Tucson, AZ 10 ——

11. Michigan (Ross) Ann Arbor, MI 12 +1

11. California-Los Angeles (Anderson) Los Angeles, CA 16 +5

13. St. Louis University (Cook) St. Louis, MO 21 +8

14. Chicago (Booth) Chicago, IL 14 ——

14. Virginia (Darden) Charlottesville, VA 16 +2

14. University of Washington (Foster) Seattle, WA 16 +2

14. Rice University (Jones) Houston, TX 21 +7

14. Syracuse University (Whitman) Syracuse, NY 16 +2

19. Columbia Business School New York, NY 14 -5

20. University of Maryland (Smith) College Park, MD NR New on list

20. North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler) Chapel Hill, NC 20 -8

22. Northwestern University (Kellogg) Evanston, IL 11 -11

23. New York University (Stern) New York, NY 21 -2

24. Brigham Young (Marriott) Provo, UT NR New on list

24. Marquette University Milwaukee, WI NR New on list

24. Rensselaer Polytechnic (Lally) Troy, NY NR New on list

24. Santa Clara University (Leavey) Santa Clara, CA 24 -8

SOURCE: 2011 and 2010 U.S. News specialty ranking for best schools in entrepreneurship.

UNTIL little Americans REGAIN OUR OWN ELECTIVE PROCE$$,WE ARE NOT THE LAND OF THE FREE ! | View Clip03/16/2011Portland Independent Media Center - Online

author: LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS

now even international elite'$ can be influencing events in wisconsin, ohio, with these 501c4 political slu$h$ accounts & even the peoples u.s. supreme court justices like clarence thoma$ !!!

ALL OUR little Americans FROM BOTH MAJOR POLITICAL PARTIES NEED TO BECOME EDUCATED TO THE REAL REALITY OF OUR U.S. ELITE BEING

ABLE TO EASILY CONTROL OUR AMERICAN ELECTIVE PROCESS THROUGH DIFFERENT VARIOUS DIVISIVE MONETARY TECHNIQUES.

OUR GREAT COUNTRY WILL CONTINUE DOWN THAT SAME OLD ELECTIVE PATH OF OUR WEALTHY ELITE'$ MONEY HAVING TOO MUCH POWER TO

INFLUENCE WHO WE ARE ELECTING MANY TIMES WITHOUT US little American voters BEING CAPABLE OF EVEN DETERMINING WHERE WE GOT $UCKERED PUCHED FROM !!

LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS SUPPORTS FUTURE GOVERNMENT FINANCED ELECTION$ FOR ALL OUR FUTURE AMERICAN ELECTIVE OFFICES IN THE LAND !

SADLY EVEN OUR U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICES ARE ONLY HUMANS WHO ALSO CAN FALL PREY TO THE BIG MONIE$ THAT ARE OFFERED TO THEM IN SECRET OR DISCREET WAYS by THESE DEVIOUS ELITE. SUCH IS THE CASE AS WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR DISHONEST U.S SUPREME COURT JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS HAVING BEEN CAUGHT WITH HIS HAND$ IN OUR WEALTHY ELITE'S POCKET'$ FOR MANY YEARS AND DECLARING THAT THERE WAS ONLY $700,000 in pocket change...

GOP trying to 'shock and awe' Dems into submission

If you're eager to see the 2012 presidential race get underway, don't be fooled by the slowness of Republican wannabes to officially enter the campaign. It's already in high gear.

In their attempt to deny Democrat Barack Obama a second term in the White House, Republicans appear to be using the same "shock and awe" strategy employed by the U.S. military to confuse the forces of Saddam Hussein at the beginning of the Iraq War. While Saddam's troops prepared to repel an American-led invasion, U.S. naval vessels fired hundreds of Tomahawk cruise missiles at key targets throughout Iraq. The destruction of those targets crippled any chance Saddam had of putting up a good fight before a major engagement between Iraqi and U.S. forces was fought.

Republicans are employing a similar "shock and awe" campaign. The pre-emptive strikes the GOP is launching aren't so much a direct attack on Obama as they are intended to destroy the base of his support before the 2012 presidential race begins.

DeWayne Wickham USA TODAY columnist

Proof of this strategy surfaced in the wake of the attack Republicans launched against public-employee unions in Wisconsin. With a movement underway to recall eight of the Republican state senators who joined the GOP majority in passing the bill that stripped away most of these union's bargaining rights, the body's top Republican made it clear what is at stake if the GOP loses those seats. "If they flip the state Senate ... they can take control of the labor unions. If we win this battle, and the money is not there under the auspices of the unions, certainly what you're going to find is President Obama is going to have a ... much more difficult time getting elected and winning the state of Wisconsin," Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald told Fox News.

Unions, Hispanics, minorities and college students are as essential to Obama's re-election hopes as the targets destroyed by the Tomahawk attack were to Saddam's survival. While much of the nation's attention was focused on the GOP's attack on public-employee unions in Wisconsin, Republicans were hurling their political missiles at Democratic targets in other states. In New Hampshire, the new GOP House speaker defended his party's effort to pass a law that would make it difficult for many college students to register and vote. Young people are "foolish," William O'Brien told a Tea Party gathering, because they're "liberal" and "just vote their feelings."

In fact, Republicans are using their legislative majorities in dozens of states to push legislation that would sharply curtail the ability of students and minorities  the Democrat Party base  to vote.

In Florida, newly elected Republican Gov. Rick Scott imposed a five-year waiting period before non-violent felons can vote after their release from prison. Asked why he did it, Scott offered this simple (if not simple-minded) explanation: "Seemed reasonable." In states like Georgia, Tennessee and Texas, Republicans are pushing anti-immigration bills that critics believe are meant to curb the growing voting strength of Hispanics.

If this strategy succeeds, any of the front-runners among the current crop of potential GOP presidential candidates would have their prospect of defeating Obama dramatically improved. As it stands now, former House speaker Newt Gingrich and ex-governors Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Tim Pawlenty are long-shot presidential candidates.

To unseat Obama, the eventual Republican Party standard-bearer will need lawmakers in GOP-dominated state legislatures to largely succeed in their efforts to weaken the president's base. Short of that, Obama's road to victory will look a lot like the one American troops traveled to Baghdad.

DeWayne Wickham writes on Tuesdays for USA TODAY.

LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS IS A INDEPENDENT VOLUNTEER WWW LOBBY THAT SINGS OUT FOR OUR AMERICAN MIDDLE~CLASS AND POORER AMERICANS LIVING IN OUR WEALTHY ELITE'S COUNTRY.

WE CAN BE FOUND WITH ANY WEB SEARCH ENGINE BY OUR NAME,TELEPHONE NUMBER OR E MAIL ADDRESS.

GOOGLE, YAHOO, AOL,MSN,BING..ETC..ALL CARRY OUR PREVIOUS WRITTEN COMMENTARY WITH VARIOUS DIFFERENT LISTINGS.

WE ENJOY BRINGING ALL OUR fellow little Americans THE GOOD LIFE OVER THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITIES IDE WORLD OF THE WEB.

AMERICA CAN NO LONGER AFFORD THE $LY FOX IN OUR U.S. $UPREME COURT 2 CONTINUE EATING THE GOLDEN GOO$E EGG$..

AMERICA'S U.S.SUPREME COURT ALSO NEEDS TO REPRESENT INTEGRITY 4 JUDGING U.S. LAWS FOR ALL IN USA TO BELIEVE IN JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMA$ ...

BY ALL OBVIOUS APPEARANCES, OUR U.S. SUPREME COURT IS IN DESPERATE NEED OF A MAJOR U.S.CONGRESSIONAL OVERHAUL ! FOR THIS IVORY TOWER JUDICIAL GROUP TO CONTINUE ATTEMPTING TO STAY A RELEVANT LEGITIMATE JUDICIAL BODY ABLE TO RETAIN THE AMERICAN PUBLIC'S CONFIDENCE TRUE REFORM MUST PREVAIL !

WHEN THIS ONCE GREAT LEGAL BODY'S MEMBERS CONTINUE TO LOOK EVERYWHERE ELSE IN ATTEMPTING TO CORRECT JUDICIAL INJUSTICES & REINVENTING OUR COUNTRIES LEGAL LAWS, THEY HAVE APPARENTLY TURNED THEIR HEADS, CLOSED THEIR EYES & EARS IN ALLOWING MAJOR CORRUPTION TO PERMEATE THEIR VERY OWN CHAMBER$ !!!

FORMER PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON PAID THE ULTIMATE PRICE OF HIS PAST MISDEEDS AND RESIGNED FROM HIS HIGH OFFICE PRIOR DESTROYING THE IMPORTANT IMAGE THAT OUR PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE MUST MAINTAIN IF WE ARE TO CONTINUE BEING A GREAT COUNTRY...

LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS WILL CONTINUE CALLING ON OUR COUNTRIES IVORY TOWER U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMA$ TO ALSO RETHINK HIS FUTURE YEARS ON THE BENCH AND OUR WONDERFUL COUNTRIES FUTURE IF YOU CONTINUE PUTTING YOU AND YOUR WIFES OWN

VESTED INTEREST$ BEFORE THE HIGHEST COURT IN WHICH YOU CONTINUE PRETENDING TO CREDIBLY REPRESENT WITH INTEGRITY ??

NEW YORK TIMES NEWSPAPER

EDITORIAL

The Court's Recusal Problem

Supreme Court justices have life tenure to assure their independence and impartiality. The court's lack of a recusal policy leaves each justice to decide whether he or she is meeting that standard. That plainly violates the age-old legal principle: Nemo iudex in causa sua  no one should be a judge about his or her own case. It damages the justices' credibility and the court's authority.

The court is still not addressing the issue despite months of questions about possible cozy friendships, suspected political biases and family ties. Last week, Justice Antonin Scalia was asked to recuse himself from an upcoming case about alleged gender bias at Wal-Mart Stores because his son is co-chairman of the labor and employment practice at the law firm representing the company.

A bipartisan group of 107 law professors from 76 law schools have made their own proposal for how the court should solve its recusal problem. They argue that justices should follow the ethical code that applies to other federal judges. (Under the rule about avoiding the appearance of impropriety and not letting others "convey the impression that they are in a special position to influence the judge," Justice Antonin Scalia would not have been able to go duck hunting with Vice President Dick Cheney in 2003 after the court agreed to hear a case involving Mr. Cheney.)

If a justice denies a motion to recuse, he or she should have to issue an opinion explaining why and that could be reviewed by some as yet unspecified group.

The professors' proposal is a good start. Representatives Chris Murphy and Anthony Weiner are working on a bill based on it. It would be better for the justices to come up with their own similar proposal and adopt it  including a review process by a committee of justices to ensure accountability. That would not interfere with the court's independence and would strengthen its credibility.

If the justices don't act, Congress may have to require them to adopt a more transparent recusal process. That's not our first choice. But the questions about the court's impartiality are too serious to ignore.

LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS IS A INDEPENDENT VOLUNTEER WWW LOBBY THAT SINGS OUT FOR OUR AMERICAN MIDDLE~CLASS AND POORER AMERICANS LIVING IN OUR WEALTHY ELITE'S COUNTRY.

WE CAN BE FOUND WITH ANY WEB SEARCH ENGINE BY OUR NAME,TELEPHONE NUMBER OR E MAIL ADDRESS.

GOOGLE, YAHOO, AOL,MSN,BING..ETC..ALL CARRY OUR PREVIOUS WRITTEN COMMENTARY WITH VARIOUS DIFFERENT LISTINGS.

WE ENJOY BRINGING ALL OUR fellow little Americans THE GOOD LIFE OVER THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITIES IDE WORLD OF THE WEB.

AMERICA CAN NO LONGER AFFORD THE $LY FOX IN OUR U.S. $UPREME COURT 2 CONTINUE EATING THE GOLDEN GOO$E EGG$..

AMERICA'S U.S.SUPREME COURT ALSO NEEDS TO REPRESENT INTEGRITY 4 JUDGING U.S. LAWS FOR ALL IN USA TO BELIEVE IN JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMA$ ...

BY ALL OBVIOUS APPEARANCES, OUR U.S. SUPREME COURT IS IN DESPERATE NEED OF A MAJOR U.S.CONGRESSIONAL OVERHAUL ! FOR THIS IVORY TOWER JUDICIAL GROUP TO CONTINUE ATTEMPTING TO STAY A RELEVANT LEGITIMATE JUDICIAL BODY ABLE TO RETAIN THE AMERICAN PUBLIC'S CONFIDENCE TRUE REFORM MUST PREVAIL !

WHEN THIS ONCE GREAT LEGAL BODY'S MEMBERS CONTINUE TO LOOK EVERYWHERE ELSE IN ATTEMPTING TO CORRECT JUDICIAL INJUSTICES & REINVENTING OUR COUNTRIES LEGAL LAWS, THEY HAVE APPARENTLY TURNED THEIR HEADS, CLOSED THEIR EYES & EARS IN ALLOWING MAJOR CORRUPTION TO PERMEATE THEIR VERY OWN CHAMBER$ !!!

FORMER PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON PAID THE ULTIMATE PRICE OF HIS PAST MISDEEDS AND RESIGNED FROM HIS HIGH OFFICE PRIOR DESTROYING THE IMPORTANT IMAGE THAT OUR PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE MUST MAINTAIN IF WE ARE TO CONTINUE BEING A GREAT COUNTRY...

LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS WILL CONTINUE CALLING ON OUR COUNTRIES IVORY TOWER U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMA$ TO ALSO RETHINK HIS FUTURE YEARS ON THE BENCH AND OUR WONDERFUL COUNTRIES FUTURE IF YOU CONTINUE PUTTING YOU AND YOUR WIFES OWN VE$TED INTEREST$ BEFORE THE HIGHEST COURT

IN THE LAND IN WHICH YOU CONTINUE PRETENDING TO CREDIBLY REPRESENT WITH INTEGRITY ??

NEW YORK TIMES NEWSPAPER

EDITORIAL

The Court's Recusal Problem

Supreme Court justices have life tenure to assure their independence and impartiality. The court's lack of a recusal policy leaves each justice to decide whether he or she is meeting that standard. That plainly violates the age-old legal principle: Nemo iudex in causa sua — no one should be a judge about his or her own case. It damages the justices' credibility and the court's authority.

The court is still not addressing the issue despite months of questions about possible cozy friendships, suspected political biases and family ties. Last week, Justice Antonin Scalia was asked to recuse himself from an upcoming case about alleged gender bias at Wal-Mart Stores because his son is co-chairman of the labor and employment practice at the law firm representing the company.

A bipartisan group of 107 law professors from 76 law schools have made their own proposal for how the court should solve its recusal problem. They argue that justices should follow the ethical code that applies to other federal judges. (Under the rule about avoiding the appearance of impropriety and not letting others “convey the impression that they are in a special position to influence the judge,” Justice Antonin Scalia would not have been able to go duck hunting with Vice President Dick Cheney in 2003 after the court agreed to hear a case involving Mr. Cheney.)

If a justice denies a motion to recuse, he or she should have to issue an opinion explaining why and that could be reviewed by some as yet unspecified group.

The professors' proposal is a good start. Representatives Chris Murphy and Anthony Weiner are working on a bill based on it. It would be better for the justices to come up with their own similar proposal and adopt it — including a review process by a committee of justices to ensure accountability. That would not interfere with the court's independence and would strengthen its credibility.

If the justices don't act, Congress may have to require them to adopt a more transparent recusal process. That's not our first choice. But the questions about the court's impartiality are too serious to ignore.

LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS IS A INDEPENDENT VOLUNTEER WWW LOBBY THAT SINGS OUT FOR OUR AMERICAN MIDDLE~CLASS AND POORER AMERICANS LIVING IN OUR WEALTHY ELITE'S COUNTRY.

WE CAN BE FOUND WITH ANY WEB SEARCH ENGINE BY OUR NAME,TELEPHONE NUMBER OR E MAIL ADDRESS.

GOOGLE, YAHOO, AOL,MSN,BING..ETC..ALL CARRY OUR PREVIOUS WRITTEN COMMENTARY WITH VARIOUS DIFFERENT LISTINGS.

WE ENJOY BRINGING ALL OUR fellow little Americans THE GOOD LIFE OVER THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITIES IDE WORLD OF THE WEB.

Oberman on Teen Sex and the Law | View Clip03/16/2011Environmental Law Professors

« Dubber on the MPC and European Criminal Law | Main | Hafetz on Detaining Suspected Terrorists »

Michelle Oberman (Santa Clara University - School of Law) has posted Two Truths and a Lie: Stories at the Juncture of Teen Sex and the Law on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

Contemporary laws governing adolescent sexuality are internally incoherent and chaotically enforced, and contemporary legal scholarship on the subject shies away from the core problem of addressing and remedying adolescents' vulnerability in sexual encounters. In order to posit a meaningful relationship between the criminal law and adolescent sexual encounters, one must examine what we know about the nature of adolescent sexuality both from the academic literature on the subject and also from the perspective of the adults who control the criminal justice system's response to teens' sexual interactions. This essay illuminates the intersection between coercive adolescent sexual encounters and the criminal justice system via an in-depth study of a 2003 rape prosecution involving two seventeen year-olds. Using the case as a map, I explore the broader implications of the prosecution by interviewing a variety of experts and by analyzing the contemporary literature on sexual norms among youth. Against this backdrop, I relate a series of interviews conducted with the major players involved in the prosecution: the prosecutors, the defense lawyer, the trial court judge and both appellate lawyers. Examining this single case from a variety of perspectives permits a deeper understanding of how the law endeavors to regulate adolescent sexual encounters and of why it fails.

Sunnyvale and Santa Clara are in the top 10 cities for nerds to find love, according to a survey released by Match.com.

Sunnyvale -- home of companies that include Yahoo Inc., Palm Inc., and aerospace and defense companies -- came in at No. 1.

Coming in at No. 5 was Santa Clara, which hosts headquarters for high-tech companies including Intel Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. The city is also home to Santa Clara University and Mission College.

Match.com made its selections by finding cities with the highest education rates among its members, either in technical or educational occupations. Other top cities for nerd love were:

2. Cambridge, Mass. — Cambridge is home to two highly esteemed and prominent schools, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

4. Berkeley, Calif. — This East Bay community is the site of the University of California at Berkeley, the oldest institute of higher learning within the revered University of California systems. The state-of-the-art Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory also calls this city home.

5. Santa Clara.

6. Ann Arbor, Mich. — In Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan employs about 30,000 people — which equals roughly 26 percent of the city's population. The city's economy mostly depends on developments in high technology, as many companies are drawn to the area due to the educated alumnae that have matriculated there.

7. Boulder, Colo. — Not only serving as the home base for the University of Colorado, Boulder is also a burgeoning hub for high-technology, electronics and aerospace companies.

8. Columbia, MD — The nearby National Security Agency and Fort Meade Army base account for more than 8,000 highly educated jobs that can be found in Columbia.

9. Fairfax, VA — In May of 2008, Forbes commended Fairfax for its strong public school system, high median salary, and financially fit employers in the city, which include SunTrust and Federal Technology Services.

10. Rockville, MD — Rockville is home to numerous software and biotechnology companies as well as several federal government institutions. Its per-capita venture capital investment is the highest of any town outside of California.

Students Sarah Razo, left, and Annette Cruz pick up free copies of "Call of the Wild" at Mission College in Santa Clara, March 16, 2011. Santa Clara won a federal grant to promote the Big Read, a national effort to get entire communities reading, and talking about, the same book.

If you're tooling around Santa Clara these days, and see people's noses buried in the same book or talking about dogs who can speak, it's no coincidence.

The entire city is invited to participate in a national effort called The Big Read, where the goal is simple: Everyone in a community should be on the same page. Well, almost literally.

This year, Santa Clara is the only city in Silicon Valley to have been awarded grant money from the National Endowment for Arts to encourage the entire community to read the same book. Santa Clara has chosen "Call of the Wild" by Jack London, a story where dogs are the central characters and whose opening scene takes place in Santa Clara.

Wednesday, the literary effort formally kicked off at Mission College, where a band played jazzy tunes and giddy librarians passed out free copies of the classic.

"I'm going to read it tonight," said Erin Townsend, 24. "I think it's cool that everyone will be reading, and talking about, the same book."

The Big Read was born in 2006 in response to a survey that showed a great decline in adults reading for pleasure. Since then, 74 organizations from California and 800 nationwide have participated in The Big Read, said to Liz Stark, spokeswoman for the NEA in Washington, D.C.

In years past, Bay Area cities, universities and libraries from Palo Alto to Pleasanton have been involved. This year, the selection process was tougher than usual: Only 75 groups,

instead of the typical 200-or-so, were awarded the federal money.

Santa Clara received $6,000 in grant funding, and matched it with nearly $6,000 in cash and in-kind services, said Maria Daane, executive director of the Santa Clara City Library Foundation & Friends.

Most of the money went to hand out nearly 600 free copies of the book and pay the expenses of two experts, Daniel Dyer, a Jack London scholar from Ohio, and Jeff Dinsdale, a dog sled historian from Canada, to speak on several occasions over the next the month.

For those who never read the book, the San Francisco-born London wrote a story in 1903 that was considered experimental at the time: Half the characters are canine, and the hero, Buck, is a St. Bernard-Scotch Shepherd who is stolen from his home in the Santa Clara Valley and sold as a sled dog to face struggles in Klondike Gold Rush Territory, from Canada's Yukon to Alaska.

Daane said the book was chosen for many reasons. First, it was one of the 31 choices offered by the NEA. Second, a scene is set in Santa Clara. And third, the author had many close ties to the area, including the fact that he attended Oakland High School, as evidenced by the many parks, streets and areas named after him.

Daane said not only would it be great if people started discussing the book in the grocery aisles, but also learned about the book's topics, such as dog sledding and railroads.

"My big hope is that a lot of people read The Call of the Wild and engage with the book in a dynamic way," she said.

At least for one reader, just reading the first few sentences, again, brought her back 50 years.

Jessica Mejia, 61, was handed a free copy of the book on Wednesday, and didn't waste any time opening its cover. The words brought her back to sixth grade, where she vividly remembered her teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in Oakland discussing the book and taking the children on a field trip to Jack London Square.

"I'm an avid reader," Mejia said. "I think this is so wonderful. I'm happy to be reading it again."

Contact Lisa Fernandez at 408-920-5002.

Several book discussions and slide show presentations about the historical footsteps of Jack London and the fictional footsteps of Buck, the dog.

Free screenings of the 1975 Charlton Heston version of the movie and an anime version of the classic, both at the Central Park Library.

Dog sledding historian Jeff Dinsdale, dressed in sledding regalia, will bring sled dogs to some Santa Clara schools and talk to students about the rugged sport.

An exhibit at the de Saisset Museum in honor of the Father Bernard Hubbard, also called "The Glacier Priest," a Jesuit at Santa Clara University who led annual expeditions to Alaska from 1927 until his shortly before his death in 1962.

For a full list of The Big Read programs in Santa Clara, click on http://www.neabigread.org. Then click on "communities" and find Santa Clara.

Students Sarah Razo, left, and Annette Cruz pick up free copies of "Call of the Wild" at Mission College in Santa Clara, March 16, 2011. Santa Clara won a federal grant to promote the Big Read, a national effort to get entire communities reading, and talking about, the same book.

If you're tooling around Santa Clara these days, and see people's noses buried in the same book or talking about dogs who can speak, it's no coincidence.

The entire city is invited to participate in a national effort called The Big Read, where the goal is simple: Everyone in a community should be on the same page. Well, almost literally.

This year, Santa Clara is the only city in Silicon Valley to have been awarded grant money from the National Endowment for Arts to encourage the entire community to read the same book. Santa Clara has chosen "Call of the Wild" by Jack London, a story where dogs are the central characters and whose opening scene takes place in Santa Clara.

Wednesday, the literary effort formally kicked off at Mission College, where a band played jazzy tunes and giddy librarians passed out free copies of the classic.

"I'm going to read it tonight," said Erin Townsend, 24. "I think it's cool that everyone will be reading, and talking about, the same book."

The Big Read was born in 2006 in response to a survey that showed a great decline in adults reading for pleasure. Since then, 74 organizations from California and 800 nationwide have participated in The Big Read, said to Liz Stark, spokeswoman for the NEA in Washington, D.C.

In years past, Bay Area cities, universities and libraries from Palo Alto to Pleasanton have been involved. This year, the selection process was tougher than usual: Only 75 groups,

instead of the typical 200-or-so, were awarded the federal money.

Santa Clara received $6,000 in grant funding, and matched it with nearly $6,000 in cash and in-kind services, said Maria Daane, executive director of the Santa Clara City Library Foundation & Friends.

Most of the money went to hand out nearly 600 free copies of the book and pay the expenses of two experts, Daniel Dyer, a Jack London scholar from Ohio, and Jeff Dinsdale, a dog sled historian from Canada, to speak on several occasions over the next the month.

For those who never read the book, the San Francisco-born London wrote a story in 1903 that was considered experimental at the time: Half the characters are canine, and the hero, Buck, is a St. Bernard-Scotch Shepherd who is stolen from his home in the Santa Clara Valley and sold as a sled dog to face struggles in Klondike Gold Rush Territory, from Canada's Yukon to Alaska.

Daane said the book was chosen for many reasons. First, it was one of the 31 choices offered by the NEA. Second, a scene is set in Santa Clara. And third, the author had many close ties to the area, including the fact that he attended Oakland High School, as evidenced by the many parks, streets and areas named after him.

Daane said not only would it be great if people started discussing the book in the grocery aisles, but also learned about the book's topics, such as dog sledding and railroads.

"My big hope is that a lot of people read The Call of the Wild and engage with the book in a dynamic way," she said.

At least for one reader, just reading the first few sentences, again, brought her back 50 years.

Jessica Mejia, 61, was handed a free copy of the book on Wednesday, and didn't waste any time opening its cover. The words brought her back to sixth grade, where she vividly remembered her teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in Oakland discussing the book and taking the children on a field trip to Jack London Square.

"I'm an avid reader," Mejia said. "I think this is so wonderful. I'm happy to be reading it again."

Contact Lisa Fernandez at 408-920-5002.

Several book discussions and slide show presentations about the historical footsteps of Jack London and the fictional footsteps of Buck, the dog.

Free screenings of the 1975 Charlton Heston version of the movie and an anime version of the classic, both at the Central Park Library.

Dog sledding historian Jeff Dinsdale, dressed in sledding regalia, will bring sled dogs to some Santa Clara schools and talk to students about the rugged sport.

An exhibit at the de Saisset Museum in honor of the Father Bernard Hubbard, also called "The Glacier Priest," a Jesuit at Santa Clara University who led annual expeditions to Alaska from 1927 until his shortly before his death in 1962.

For a full list of The Big Read programs in Santa Clara, click on http://www.neabigread.org. Then click on "communities" and find Santa Clara.

Students Sarah Razo, left, and Annette Cruz pick up free copies of "Call of the Wild" at Mission College in Santa Clara, March 16, 2011. Santa Clara won a federal grant to promote the Big Read, a national effort to get entire communities reading, and talking about, the same book.

If you're tooling around Santa Clara these days, and see people's noses buried in the same book or talking about dogs who can speak, it's no coincidence.

The entire city is invited to participate in a national effort called The Big Read, where the goal is simple: Everyone in a community should be on the same page. Well, almost literally.

This year, Santa Clara is the only city in Silicon Valley to have been awarded grant money from the National Endowment for Arts to encourage the entire community to read the same book. Santa Clara has chosen "Call of the Wild" by Jack London, a story where dogs are the central characters and whose opening scene takes place in Santa Clara.

Wednesday, the literary effort formally kicked off at Mission College, where a band played jazzy tunes and giddy librarians passed out free copies of the classic.

"I'm going to read it tonight," said Erin Townsend, 24. "I think it's cool that everyone will be reading, and talking about, the same book."

The Big Read was born in 2006 in response to a survey that showed a great decline in adults reading for pleasure. Since then, 74 organizations from California and 800 nationwide have participated in The Big Read, said to Liz Stark, spokeswoman for the NEA in Washington, D.C.

In years past, Bay Area cities, universities and libraries from Palo Alto to Pleasanton have been involved. This year, the selection process was tougher than usual: Only 75 groups,

instead of the typical 200-or-so, were awarded the federal money.

Santa Clara received $6,000 in grant funding, and matched it with nearly $6,000 in cash and in-kind services, said Maria Daane, executive director of the Santa Clara City Library Foundation & Friends.

Most of the money went to hand out nearly 600 free copies of the book and pay the expenses of two experts, Daniel Dyer, a Jack London scholar from Ohio, and Jeff Dinsdale, a dog sled historian from Canada, to speak on several occasions over the next the month.

For those who never read the book, the San Francisco-born London wrote a story in 1903 that was considered experimental at the time: Half the characters are canine, and the hero, Buck, is a St. Bernard-Scotch Shepherd who is stolen from his home in the Santa Clara Valley and sold as a sled dog to face struggles in Klondike Gold Rush Territory, from Canada's Yukon to Alaska.

Daane said the book was chosen for many reasons. First, it was one of the 31 choices offered by the NEA. Second, a scene is set in Santa Clara. And third, the author had many close ties to the area, including the fact that he attended Oakland High School, as evidenced by the many parks, streets and areas named after him.

Daane said not only would it be great if people started discussing the book in the grocery aisles, but also learned about the book's topics, such as dog sledding and railroads.

"My big hope is that a lot of people read The Call of the Wild and engage with the book in a dynamic way," she said.

At least for one reader, just reading the first few sentences, again, brought her back 50 years.

Jessica Mejia, 61, was handed a free copy of the book on Wednesday, and didn't waste any time opening its cover. The words brought her back to sixth grade, where she vividly remembered her teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in Oakland discussing the book and taking the children on a field trip to Jack London Square.

"I'm an avid reader," Mejia said. "I think this is so wonderful. I'm happy to be reading it again."

Contact Lisa Fernandez at 408-920-5002.

Several book discussions and slide show presentations about the historical footsteps of Jack London and the fictional footsteps of Buck, the dog.

Free screenings of the 1975 Charlton Heston version of the movie and an anime version of the classic, both at the Central Park Library.

Dog sledding historian Jeff Dinsdale, dressed in sledding regalia, will bring sled dogs to some Santa Clara schools and talk to students about the rugged sport.

An exhibit at the de Saisset Museum in honor of the Father Bernard Hubbard, also called "The Glacier Priest," a Jesuit at Santa Clara University who led annual expeditions to Alaska from 1927 until his shortly before his death in 1962.

For a full list of The Big Read programs in Santa Clara, click on http://www.neabigread.org. Then click on "communities" and find Santa Clara.

A Companion to Early Modern Philosophy | View Clip03/16/2011CIO Australia

is a comprehensive guide to the most significant philosophers and philosophical concepts of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe.

Provides a comprehensive guide to all the important modern philosophers and modern philosophical movements.

Spans a wide range of philosophical areas and problems, including metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science, ethics, political philosophy and aesthetics.

Written by leading scholars in the field.

Represents the most up-to-date research in the history of early modern philosophy.

Serves as an excellent supplement to primary readings.

Steven Nadler is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is also the director of the Center for the Humanities. He is author of Arnauld and the Cartesian Philosophy of Ideas (1989), Malebranche and Ideas (1992), Spinoza: A Life (1999), and Spinoza's Heresy (2002).

For the Future of Business 40+ is the New 18 to 34 | View Clip03/16/2011NewsGuide

America's Leading Analysts, Strategists and Researchers on Baby Boomer and Senior Consumers Assemble at What's Next Boomer Business Summit in San Francisco on April 29, 2011 By inviting the most innovative companies and top thought leaders, you can get insight and intelligence that will help you understand the market dynamic. What worked in 2009 is not the same as what works today

From the start of 2011, as the first of the baby boomer generation began turning 65 years old, almost daily stories in the media are being generated about the issues, needs, impact, influence and sheer size of the eldest of our population. The growing discourse includes the changes to retirement, the fact that the 55+ age group is the fastest-growing segment of entrepreneurs, the call to advertisers that they can no longer afford to ignore this audience, and announcements of new outlets catering to these demographics (this month USA Today launches new Mature Living magazine and PBS launches new digital property Next Avenue this year). From aging-in-place technologies to universal design to social and mobile media, the overall wealth of opportunities in meeting the needs of this mature market is the purpose of the eighth annual What&39;s Next Boomer Business Summit, held April 29 in San Francisco. There the country's leading analysts, top researchers and executive strategists will gather to introduce new research, products and services, and to present the definitive ways to reach and successfully sell to baby boomers and senior consumers.

The event tracks will explore the trends in the areas of social media, alternative distribution, mobile, local and search, entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship, and design and technology.

Agenda highlights include:

Plenary speakers Vint Cerf, an Internet ‘co-father' and vice president and chief internet evangelist at Google offers his fresh look at the future, and Guy Kawasaki, author and venture capitalist, will explain how to influence people&39;s hearts, minds and actions through the power of enchantment, to bring about voluntary and enduring change.

Jody Holtzman, senior vice president, thought leadership, at AARP will be presenting the latest research from their study, Healthy at Home 2.0, a follow-up to their 2008 report.

How do boomers&39; housing choices reflect the realities of their adult children boomeranging back home, or elderly parents needing caregiving, or raising grandchildren? Best-selling authors Ciji Ware and Gail Sheehy give their viewpoints on the future of boomers' housing choices, in a session that examines the data on trends in housing in our post-bubble world.

Laurie Orlov, founder, Aging in Place Technology Watch , and Lyn Jeffery, director, technology horizons program, Institute for the Future, will share the latest trends on how technology can transcend geography for families.

Jeff Hasen, chief marketing officer, Hipcricket, and Miles Orkin, national director, web and mobile, American Cancer Society, will provide perspectives on how mobile technologies will change how senior consumers manage their mobile wallets.

Social media will continue to play an important role in the lives of older adults. Bill Tancer, general manager, global research, Experian Marketing Services along with Lori Bitter, president, Continuum Crew, will take a look into the trends in the area of baby boomers and social media use rates and habits.

James Pursley, general manager, independent living, with Care Innovations, an Intel-GE company, will talk about designing and marketing in-home health care services.

Innovation and experimentation that can drive new revenue streams is a current hot topic in the boomer/senior marketplace. Non-profit channels, like the AAA, can be an important way to bring an idea to market. Alexandra Morehouse, AAA's chief marketing officer, will share how they are doing just that.

The travel industry will be greatly affected as experiences rather than materials are sought out, as well as a way for boomers to connect with adult children and further develop relationships with their grandchildren. The 60+ million grandparent economy, and the methods to tap into this market, will be discussed by Renee Werbin, publisher and co-founder of travelgirl magazine.

“Richard Saul Wurman, co-founder of the TED conferences, said that he saw TED as ‘a dinner party of his own choosing', and I think of the What&39;s Next Boomer Business Summit in the same light,” said Dr. Mary Furlong, president and chief executive officer, Mary Furlong & Associates and the Summit's producer. “By inviting the most innovative companies and the top thought leaders, you can get insight and intelligence that will help you understand the market dynamic. What worked in 2009 is not the same as what works today.”

The complete list of speakers is available at http://www.boomersummit.com/speakers.html. A select group of these featured speakers will be hosting tables at Lunch with the Experts, and attendees will be able to sign up for places at the tables of their own choosing on the day of the summit. More information about the Lunch with the Experts, including the list of table hosts, is available at http://www.boomersummit.com/lunch.html.

“I attended the first Summit because the content sounded intriguing; what I didn't expect was to have my entire professional life changed by attending it,” said Candiece Lindstrom, director of marketing, Northern California Presbyterian Homes & Services (NCPHS). “I sat in session after session, mesmerized by the information about this burgeoning demographic and how it is changing our lives, whether we realize it or not. I knew that I had found my next professional move – I went into the senior living field where I am passionate about educating seniors and their adult children about their living options. Each year this Summit fuels my desire to continue in this field.”

Register, view the agenda and learn more information at http://www.boomersummit.com. Registration costs are, for early bird (prior to March 15) $275.00, advance (prior to April 27) $350.00 and onsite is $425.00.

What's Next Boomer Business Summit

The Eighth Annual What's Next Boomer Business Summit takes place at the Parc 55 Wyndham on April 29, 2011 in San Francisco. It is produced by Mary Furlong & Associates. It is affiliated with the American Society on Aging (ASA) Aging in America Conference, which is held April 26-30, 2011 in San Francisco. The theme for 2011 is Dynamics, Deals, Differentiation and Disruption. The focus of the annual event is to foster a cutting-edge community to explore and share products and services that will serve the needs and wants of the 50+ market. Registration and program information is available at http://www.boomersummit.com. Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/2011-Whats-Next-Boomer-Business-Summit. Twitter username is WhatsNextBoomer. Twitter hashtag is WNBBS2011.

Mary Furlong & Associates

Founded in 2003, Mary Furlong & Associates (MFA) works with companies seeking to capitalize on new business and investment opportunities in the baby boomer market. MFA provides business development, financing strategy and integrated marketing solutions to entrepreneurs, corporations and non-profit organizations serving the 50+ market. Mary Furlong, Ed.D., the firm&39;s founder and CEO, has guided the offline and online 40+ market strategies of leading corporations and non-profit organizations for more than 20 years. Furlong is Dean&39;s Executive Professor of Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University&39;s Leavey School of Business, and founder of SeniorNet and ThirdAge Media. Her book, Turning Silver into Gold: How to Profit in the New Boomer Marketplace (FT Press), was published in February 2007. Website: http://www.maryfurlong.com.

IE Business School Q&A -- Part 2 of 4 | View Clip03/16/2011BusinessBecause

IE Admissions Q&A

Q7. Do you think that the GMBA option is working well for you as compared to IE's other online programs like International Executive MBA? OR do the other programs offer something different or additional which is missing from the GMBA?

Answering this question in earnest could get me in trouble with my co-bloggers and cohorts from other programs. But let me take the chance. I say, it all depends on what you are looking for. I reviewed both the formats and my profile could have fitted either program. In a way, I was like Harry Potter, under the sorting hat, wondering whether Slytherin or Gryffindor was the right house for me. Both programs have the same set of courses delivered in a slightly different mix of online vs presential events. But in the end, the GMBA was the only one I would consider at IE. The IXEMBA was missing one key factor which I was looking for. It did not have weekly live sessions, this for me was the deal breaker.

The IXEMBA did have longer and more numerous presential events, but to me, it was not the same as weekly reinforcement. I wanted weekly live interaction with professors and classmates, not just as a way to keep in touch, but also to stay in syn'c and to “see” each other more regularly. An added benefit is, you learn via experience, on how to make effective online presentations. This is an increasingly sought after talent in today's world of WebEx and Telepresence. You could argue that you can do the same via offline interactions, it is just that the GMBA suits my personality better.

Yes, by going in for the GMBA, I forfeited the opportunity to network with more experienced classmates in high profile, even C-level positions. But I would be amongst the youngest in the IXEMBA, whereas in the GMBA, I would be smack down the middle of the age ranges. This was also another factor that influenced me toward the GMBA, as I could learn from people younger and older to me. As you can already see, it is no trivial decision and it involves a lot of personal circumstances. So, make your choice wisely and personalized to your situation.

Q8. How does the GMBA stack up against its flagship International MBA program?

IMBA has younger applicants with lower experience, still more experience than equivalent US peers. They complete the program in 13 months, whereas we take 15. They spend a bit more time in their courses. Students live in Madrid for the duration of the program, so they have live everyday access to their peers and can setup instant discussions for projects and case reports.

They form clubs, have access to IE facilities like its library, although we do have access to the virtual library and virtual IE communities as well. It is a comparison of Full time vs Part Time or Online, which is not a fair comparison. Obviously if you could do it, I would recommend you do a full time MBA over part time for the experience, the immersion and more complete and meaningful networking with peers. But if you are considering a part time program, IE's GMBA and IEXMBA are both formidable options with the most rigorous curriculum and the most diversity you can find in a part time program.

Q9. What is your assessment of the Residential period(s)?

We have had one so far and it was nothing short of sensational! It was awesome meeting folks from 30 countries, getting to know each other, the program, the professors, IE, Madrid and much more. We had several short courses in Networking, Teamwork, Negotiation etc in addition to the first sessions of our first courses. We had a very busy week, but it was brilliant! Having this at the outset of the program was great! Relationships run deeper once you have put the “face to the name”. It is still the fondest period of my MBA. Just a Perfect Start!

Q10. You live close to the best MBA programs then why did you opt for IE?

I guess the reference is to University of California, Berkeley and Santa Clara University. Both are very reputed universities with long standing and well known programs. When I looked at the Candidate profile of UCBerkeley Haas school of business, it did not have the diversity in terms of nationality or industry as my current class in IE. Most people attending the part time program in Haas seem to me as if they are from Silicon Valley or Northern California sponsored by their Tech company employers. So, there you go, it was regional and tech heavy. The amount I learn at IE had the potential to exceeds the amount I would learn at Haas part time, leave alone the time I need to take to attend class in Berkeley, find parking, etc.

Besides, two important and practical reasons: Duration of the Program and Costs, both were much lower with IE (1/3rd). So I saw a clearly better value going in for a Top 10 school with a reputed program. I do realize of course, that I am taking a risk with the lower Brand Equity and alumni reach of IE in the US. But hey, I am a believer and hopefully a trail blazer, being amongst the first GMBAs in the area!!

Q11. Is it a good move to do an MBA in a Spanish school, considering the financial crisis and recession ongoing in Spain now?

A11. Interesting question actually. But I guess the answer depends on what you are planning to do after your MBA. If you are planning to embark on a full time MBA, living in Madrid and had plans to look for employment in Spain or elsewhere in Europe, then it might be a worthwhile question to pose and to do some analysis on backup options, whether you would be able to go back to your home country and get a better job with your MBA.

However, if you are planning to do a Global MBA or International Executive MBA from your home country, then I would say, it is actually a good time to be doing an MBA with a top school in Spain. Why? There are a number of good reasons:

Spain is learning each day from its experience, its “path dependency” as we like to call it in our strategy class. So, these learnings are brought to the classroom, both by our professors as well as our Spanish classmates. Jorge and Laura in our class are very concerned and brought some great insights into class discussions. We debated how things can improve, how such crises can be avoided and critiqued whether the steps that government is taking are enough, etc. At any other time and day, these valuable lessons would be lost on us, as we gloated in the glory of progress.

Considering that we are just emerging from a global recession, the quality of students in your class, and consequently, the competition for admission are both likely to be high. But the end result, if you get in, is that you are going to learn from the best of breed in your class!

Unlike in US schools, which are cutting down spending, boosting fees, etc. IE Business School continues to invest through the downturn, expanding facilities, opening up new integration opportunities and improving its online collaboration tools.

Interest rates worldwide are quite low now, so you are probably in a good shape to borrow for tuition ;)

You are helping out Spanish economy by spending your tuition on a Spanish school. That's gotta count towards your “asset” side in your goodwill account!

Q12. I've read plenty of negative comments about IE in Business Week Exchange forums, e.g. it does not deserve the ranking, its quality of students is poor, it admits everyone? Didn't these bother you?

A12. Well how can I respond to such a question? Take a great human like Angelina Jolie or Bill Gates or a great company such as Google or Apple, if you Google them for opinion, do you expect to find only glowing and good things being said about them? I guess not. Whenever someone or an institution is very famous, it is bound to be the target of some criticism and a lot of praise. So take it with a pinch of salt and decide for yourself on what to believe and what to debate or even ignore.

The very publication you mention, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, has awarded IE a top-10 ranking. Wall St Journal, The Economist and Financial Times have consistently awarded IE high honors. You can see it here in this blog, from so many authors from so many different nations and backgrounds talk high about IE in one voice. We are not drugged or hypnotized into saying these things. But don't take our word for it. Attend an IE event, talk to its personnel, visit the Campus or even try to find some videos on Youtube featuring Dean Santiago and then make an informed decision. I wish you luck and if you need a honest student opinion, you can always ask any of us.

"The wrong guy going to prison," Francisco "Franky" Carrillo replied without hesitation. "For the past 20 years, I've lived that experience. And I think it's the worst predicament any human being can be under."

Days after the courtroom exchange, Carrillo, 37, was expected to be freed late Tuesday or Wednesday from Los Angeles County Jail, having spent two decades behind bars for a fatal drive-by shooting he insists he did not commit.

Bacigalupo overturned Carrillo's 1992 murder conviction Monday after witnesses recanted their identification of him as the gunman and a dramatic reconstruction of the shooting raised doubts about whether they could have ever reliably identified the shooter.

The murder case against Carrillo hinged solely on the word of six teenage boys who had been standing with the victim on a Lynwood street when the gunman drove by. One jury deadlocked 7 to 5 in favor of acquitting Carrillo, but a second jury found him guilty. He was sentenced to two life terms in prison.

Last week, five of the six witnesses testified at the Compton Courthouse that they had not clearly seen the gunman. Among them was the victim's son, who said he made his identification because one of his friends at the scene said he recognized Carrillo as the shooter. That friend also recanted.

The case underscores what legal experts say is the danger of eyewitness testimony. Studies have shown that faulty identifications are the biggest factor in wrongful convictions and that witnesses are particularly unreliable when identifying someone of a different race. The witnesses who identified Carrillo are black, while he is Latino.

Bacigalupo did not address whether Carrillo is innocent but concluded that the recantations and other evidence undermined confidence in the jury's verdict.

Carrillo's supporters, however, said they have no doubts about his innocence and have named three other men as suspects in the shooting.

"He's 100% innocent…. I would stake my soul on it," said Ellen J. Eggers, a deputy state public defender who worked on Carrillo's case on her own time and helped assemble his legal team. "I can't wait for Franky to start his life."

Carrillo's 20-year quest for freedom won the support of a large legal team, including the Northern California Innocence Project at Santa Clara University and the law firm Morrison & Foerster, which provided lawyers and investigators free of charge.

The team examined the case, interviewing witnesses, who recanted. The attorneys then filed legal papers challenging the validity of the conviction based on the recantations and the identification of the other possible suspects.

The witnesses were standing near the curb on Lugo Avenue well after sunset Jan. 18, 1991, when Donald Sarpy walked out of his home to talk to his son. A car cruised down the residential street and then made a second pass. A passenger leaned out the window and fired several shots. Sarpy, 41, was struck in the chest.

The victim had no connection to any gang, but the area had seen tit-for-tat shootings between a predominantly African American gang, the Neighborhood Crips, and a mostly Latino gang, Young Crowd. That night, Scott Turner, a Neighborhood Crips member and one of the boys standing on the sidewalk, identified a photograph of Carrillo as that of the shooter.

After his arrest, Carrillo, then 16, denied any involvement in the shooting, telling detectives he was home watching television the night of the killing. He had grown up in Lynwood but moved to Maywood more than a year earlier to live with his father. Carrillo admitted he was a Young Crowd member but said he had not recently associated with the gang.

The other boys were not asked to review a photo lineup of Carrillo until six months after the shooting. Deputy Dist. Atty. Mary Ann Escalante, who prosecuted Carrillo, described the sheriff's investigation as "shoddy at best" when she testified Monday.

With varying degrees of certainty, the boys selected Carrillo's photograph from the same six-pack of suspect photographs that Turner had been shown.

Dameon Sarpy, the victim's then-17-year-old son, told jurors in the first trial that he was "pretty sure" Carrillo was the shooter. After the jury deadlocked, the prosecutor asked him whether he was certain. Sarpy said he was, Escalante recalled in court, and she told him to make sure the jury knew that next time. Sarpy testified more confidently at the second trial.

But Sarpy, now an orthopedic technician, said last week that he identified Carrillo after Turner told him which photo Turner had selected in the six-pack.

Courts usually look skeptically at witness recantations. Some witnesses renounce their testimony out of fear of retaliation. But Escalante, who has prosecuted dozens of gang homicides, testified that Sarpy's recantation troubled her.

"I believed him with all my heart," she said, tearing up. "Why would somebody whose dad is dead now say that he didn't see it? He has a vested interest in seeing that the person who killed his father paid the price."

Turner apologized to Carrillo in court last week.

"I … hope God allows you to forgive me for what I did to you," he said as Carrillo's relatives in the courtroom wept.

Turner, who is serving a prison sentence for assault with a firearm and false imprisonment, alleged that a sheriff's deputy rejected photos of other suspects he initially selected until he chose Carrillo's. Sheriff's deputies dispute the claim, and prosecutors noted that over the years Turner has told several conflicting versions of what he saw and who was responsible for the killing.

Indeed, some of the recanting witnesses have given conflicting statements in recent months to district attorney's officials and sheriff's investigators.

And although Carrillo's attorneys argued that two other men had confessed to others and implicated a third person, prosecutors said that in interviews with sheriff's detectives all three denied any involvement. The men refused to testify last week.

On Friday evening, Bacigalupo visited the crime scene to see for himself what could have been seen the night of the shooting.

The judge stood with a group of attorneys and investigators in the driveway where the boys had been 20 years ago and squinted in the dark as a car drove by several times. Once the vehicle had traveled past the judge, the car's passenger leaned out and aimed a cellphone at the bystanders. His face was little more than a black silhouette.

Brentford Ferreira, a supervising prosecutor, told the judge Monday that doubts remained about the recantations. But he said he believed that the conviction should be overturned.

Carrillo smiled broadly as Bacigalupo ordered his release. A district attorney's spokeswoman said the office has 60 days to decide whether to retry the case.

No middle seat, plenty of room to lean back: Passengers fly in a de Havilland Flamingo on July 15, 1939. (Kurt Hutton/Picture Post/Getty Images)

Last year, I was in coach (as always) next to someone whose elbow was across the armrest and jabbing into my side.

Despite my rude Philadelphia roots, I've apparently been in Seattle long enough that I resorted to a combination of squishing over against the window (I'm a window-seat guy) and passive-aggressively trying to inch her arm over with mine.

Incidents like this are why The Wall Street Journal's new Middle Seat column on airplane etiquette caught my eye.

My predicament crossed two of the hypothetical scenarios.

First: Who gets the middle armrests? Four of the six panelists said the person in the middle seat does, as compensation for being, well, in the middle seat.

OK, fair enough. But how about the encroachment into my space? That's represented in scenario two, by a tall man's knee.

Opinions were more divided on this one, including the direct approach (“say something”), passive-aggressive (“gently push back”; drop something and hope he picks it up, moving his knee in the process and allowing you to claim your space; “adjust myself in a way that makes him realize he made me adjust”) and surrender (“look quickly for another seat”).

I have a little more sympathy for the tall man here than the elbow lady I encountered. My knees nearly hit the seat back in front of me, and I'm not that tall.

Other issues addressed: Getting to the bathroom when passengers inboard of you are asleep; loud, kicking children; smelly food; and, horrors, reclining.

Go over to the post to read all of the answers. One I must note, because I've never heard it before is Santa Clara University ethics professor Kirk Hanson's response to the bathroom question: “It is the responsibility of the person in the aisle seat to initiate a group bathroom break every 90 minutes or so.”

Also, as the parent of two children, I'll say that I don't think you should have to endure kicking or yelling. But always address the parent. If dirty looks don't work, resort to words or getting a flight attendant involved.

Absolute, adult-like quiet, however, is too much to expect. And if you're talking about a screaming baby, all bets are off.

I've had the screaming baby. We have a limited number of tricks and, believe me, we're at least as desperate as you are to quiet the kid down.

As for reclining, the panelists mostly feel that it's a passenger's right to do so. I agree, but I would never do it myself, knowing what it's like for me when the guy in front of me leans back. I blame the airlines for, one, putting seats so close together and, two, continuing to have reclining seats after doing so.

What do you think?

Read more aerospace news. Visit seattlepi.com's home page for more Seattle news.

As consumers manage more of their lives via smartphones and iPads, financial service companies are trying to ensure they don't get lost in the electronic shuffle. "The industry right now is app crazy," says James McGovern, vice-president for consulting services at Corporate Insight, a firm that monitors the ways financial companies communicate with customers.

"We're just going where the customers are," says Christopher Larkin, E*Trade Financial's (ETFC) senior vice-president for active trading. Bank of America's (BAC) online brokerage, Merrill Edge, is even exploring the idea of face-to-face teleconferencing between clients and advisers through the mobile apps it unveiled on Mar. 9, says Alok Prasad, the division's head.

Forrester Research estimates that more than 10 million Americans use mobile banking technology and that the number could rise to 50 million by 2015. Members of Generation X and Y make up about 75 percent of Forrester's current estimate of 10 million. While many of those consumers are comfortable using mobile apps to check their balances, companies need to work themselves more deeply into a mobile customer's financial life or the work that goes into developing all of these mobile apps may wind up being "another cost center," says Gartner (IT) analyst Stessa Cohen.

The "real potential" for mobile personal finance apps may come from linking investments and savings with spending in real time, says Ron Shevlin, senior analyst at the research firm Aite Group. Apps could track consumers' spending and investments while offering "personal finance management" by maintaining budgets and helping consumers "make smart decisions about how to finance a purchase," he says.

Paying With Your Smartphone

To do that, financial outfits have to get in on the front end of spending decisions. Such companies as Bank of America and Wells Fargo have been testing mobile payment systems using smartphones in a small number of cities across the country. Last December, Wells Fargo started a pilot study with 200 employees in San Francisco. After a similar employee study last year, Bank of America on Mar. 28 will launch a mobile payment test with customers in New York, Atlanta, and San Francisco. Just as they would swipe a credit card, shoppers hold phones up to special readers to complete purchases. In addition to offering a convenient way to pay through credit or debit accounts, mobile phones could deliver instant coupons and other promotions to shoppers, says Arah Erickson, head of Wells Fargo's retail mobile banking division.

If closer connections with financial providers make it easier for consumers to see where their money goes, that could be a big positive, says Santa Clara University professor Meir Statman, an expert on behavioral finance and author of the book, What Investors Really Want. Such knowledge "really bolsters their self control" when out shopping, he says. Another outcome could be less positive, though. "People are more likely to trade more if it's made easier," he says. "What we know from studies is the more you trade, the more you are likely to lag behind people who buy and hold investments."

Thus far, 11 percent of investors use their brokerages' mobile offerings and about a quarter of those users trade through mobile platforms, says Forrester. E*Trade says about 3 percent to 4 percent of its trades are placed through mobile devices, and it will soon add trading of futures and mutual funds to its current lineup of stocks and options. TD Ameritrade (AMTD) has seen increased trading activity due to its mobile app, particularly in options trading, says Nicole Sherrod, managing director of TD Ameritrade's trader group. Nevertheless, she adds, the main goal isn't to boost trading immediately but to attract customers and position the firm for future growth. TD Ameritrade will launch its second iPad app in late April, she says, with this one aimed at long-term investors rather than traders.

Forrester analyst Bill Doyle doubts mobile offerings will stimulate much extra trading overall, but he does expect customers to shift holdings to companies with better mobile offerings. "Mobile devices are changing consumer's perceptions of how convenient financial transactions should be," says Wells Fargo's Erickson. "Today, convenience means the PC is across the room, and I don't feel like booting it up."

Financial services companies are trying to find a place for themselves in a technology-heavy consumer market.

Financial services companies are trying to find a place for themselves in a technology-heavy consumer market. James McGovern, vice-president for consulting services at Corporate Insight, calls the industry "app-crazy," and Christopher Larkin, E*Trade Financial Corp.'s senior vice president for active trading, says they are "just going where the customers are." More than 10 million Americans use mobile-banking technology, a number that could rise to 50 million by 2015, and the onus is on the companies to work themselves more deeply into the mobile customer's life, going beyond just checking balances. "Mobile devices are changing consumers' perceptions of how convenient financial transactions should be,” says Arah Erickson, head of Wells Fargo's retail mobile banking division. According to Ron Shevlin, senior analyst at the research firm Aite Group, the "real potential" for mobile personal-finance apps may come from apps that would track consumers' spending and investments while offering "personal finance management" by maintaining budgets and helping consumers "make smart decisions about how to finance a purchase." Erickson says mobile phones could deliver instant coupons and other promotions in addition to offering a convenient way to pay through credit- or debit-card accounts. If closer connections with financial institutions make it easier for consumers to see where their money goes, that could be a big positive, says Meir Statman, a professor at Santa Clara University, who specializes in behavioral finance. Such knowledge "really bolsters their self-control" when they're shopping, says Statman.

As consumers manage more of their lives with smartphones and Apple Inc. 's iPads, financial- services companies are trying to ensure they don't get lost in the electronic shuffle. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

As consumers manage more of their lives with smartphones and Apple Inc. (AAPL)'s iPads, financial- services companies are trying to ensure they don't get lost in the electronic shuffle.

“The industry right now is app-crazy,” says James McGovern, vice-president for consulting services at Corporate Insight, which monitors how banks communicate with customers.

Bank of America Corp. (BAC)'s online brokerage, Merrill Edge, is even exploring the idea of face-to-face teleconferencing between clients and advisers through the mobile apps it unveiled on March 9, says Alok Prasad, who heads the division, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

Forrester Research Inc. estimates that more than 10 million Americans use mobile-banking technology and that the number could rise to 50 million by 2015. About 75 percent of those using the technology now are members of generations X and Y, according to Forrester.

While many of those consumers are comfortable using mobile apps to check their balances, companies need to work themselves more deeply into a mobile customer's financial life or the work that goes into developing all of these mobile apps may wind up being “another cost center,” says Gartner Inc. (IT) analyst Stessa Cohen.

The “real potential” for mobile personal-finance apps may come from linking investments and savings with spending in real time, says Ron Shevlin, senior analyst at the research firm Aite Group. Apps could track consumers' spending and investments while offering “personal finance management” by maintaining budgets and helping consumers “make smart decisions about how to finance a purchase,” he says.

To do that, financial outfits have to get in on the front end of spending decisions. Lenders including Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America have been testing mobile-payment systems using smartphones in a small number of cities across the country.

In December, Wells Fargo started a pilot with 200 employees in San Francisco, where its headquarters are located. After a similar pilot last year, Bank of America on March 28 will start a mobile-payment test with customers in New York, Atlanta, and San Francisco. Just as they would swipe a credit card, shoppers hold phones up to special readers to complete purchases.

In addition to offering a convenient way to pay through credit- or debit-card accounts, mobile phones could deliver instant coupons and other promotions to shoppers, says Arah Erickson, head of Wells Fargo's retail mobile banking division.

If closer connections with financial institutions make it easier for consumers to see where their money goes, that could be a big positive, says Meir Statman, a professor at Santa Clara University, who specializes in behavioral finance.

“People are more likely to trade more if it's made easier,” Statman says. “What we know from studies is the more you trade, the more you are likely to lag behind people who buy and hold investments.”

Thus far, 11 percent of investors use their brokerages' mobile offerings and about a quarter of those users trade through mobile platforms, says Forrester.

E*Trade says about 3 percent to 4 percent of its trades are placed through mobile devices, and it will soon add trading of futures and mutual funds to its current lineup of stocks and options. TD Ameritrade has seen increased trading activity due to its mobile app, particularly in options trading, says Nicole Sherrod, managing director of the firm's trader group.

Nevertheless, she adds, the main goal is to attract customers and position the firm for future growth, not to boost trading immediately. TD Ameritrade will introduce its second iPad app in late April, she says, with this one aimed at long- term investors rather than traders.

“Mobile devices are changing consumers' perceptions of how convenient financial transactions should be,” says Wells Fargo's Erickson. “Today, convenience means the PC is across the room, and I don't feel like booting it up.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Steverman in New York at bsteverman@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Suzanne Woolley at swoolley2@bloomberg.net

As consumers manage more of their lives via smartphones and iPads, financial service companies are trying to ensure they don't get lost in the electronic shuffle. "The industry right now is app crazy," says James McGovern, vice-president for consulting services at Corporate Insight, a firm that monitors the ways financial companies communicate with customers. "We're just going where the customers are," says Christopher Larkin, E*Trade Financial's (ETFC) senior vice-president for active trading. Bank of America's (BAC) online brokerage, Merrill Edge, is even exploring the idea of face-to-face teleconferencing between clients and advisers through the mobile apps it unveiled on Mar. 9, says Alok Prasad, the division's head.

Forrester Research estimates that more than 10 million Americans use mobile banking technology and that the number could rise to 50 million by 2015. Members of Generation X and Y make up about 75 percent of Forrester's current estimate of 10 million. While many of those consumers are comfortable using mobile apps to check their balances, companies need to work themselves more deeply into a mobile customer's financial life or the work that goes into developing all of these mobile apps may wind up being "another cost center," says Gartner (IT) analyst Stessa Cohen.

The "real potential" for mobile personal finance apps may come from linking investments and savings with spending in real time, says Ron Shevlin, senior analyst at the research firm Aite Group. Apps could track consumers' spending and investments while offering "personal finance management" by maintaining budgets and helping consumers "make smart decisions about how to finance a purchase," he says.

Paying With Your Smartphone

To do that, financial outfits have to get in on the front end of spending decisions. Such companies as Bank of America and Wells Fargo (WFC) have been testing mobile payment systems using smartphones in a small number of cities across the country. Last December, Wells Fargo started a pilot study with 200 employees in San Francisco. After a similar employee study last year, Bank of America on Mar. 28 will launch a mobile payment test with customers in New York, Atlanta, and San Francisco. Just as they would swipe a credit card, shoppers hold phones up to special readers to complete purchases. In addition to offering a convenient way to pay through credit or debit accounts, mobile phones could deliver instant coupons and other promotions to shoppers, says Arah Erickson, head of Wells Fargo's retail mobile banking division.

If closer connections with financial providers make it easier for consumers to see where their money goes, that could be a big positive, says Santa Clara University professor Meir Statman, an expert on behavioral finance and author of the book, What Investors Really Want. Such knowledge "really bolsters their self control" when out shopping, he says. Another outcome could be less positive, though. "People are more likely to trade more if it's made easier," he says. "What we know from studies is the more you trade, the more you are likely to lag behind people who buy and hold investments."

Thus far, 11 percent of investors use their brokerages' mobile offerings and about a quarter of those users trade through mobile platforms, says Forrester. E*Trade says about 3 percent to 4 percent of its trades are placed through mobile devices, and it will soon add trading of futures and mutual funds to its current lineup of stocks and options. TD Ameritrade (AMTD) has seen increased trading activity due to its mobile app, particularly in options trading, says Nicole Sherrod, managing director of TD Ameritrade's trader group. Nevertheless, she adds, the main goal isn't to boost trading immediately but to attract customers and position the firm for future growth. TD Ameritrade will launch its second iPad app in late April, she says, with this one aimed at long-term investors rather than traders.

Forrester analyst Bill Doyle doubts mobile offerings will stimulate much extra trading overall, but he does expect customers to shift holdings to companies with better mobile offerings. "Mobile devices are changing consumer's perceptions of how convenient financial transactions should be," says Wells Fargo's Erickson. "Today, convenience means the PC is across the room, and I don't feel like booting it up."

Morgan Foley plays three different roles in San Diego County. For 11 years, he's been the city attorney for both El Cajon and Coronado and just weeks ago, he was chosen to play the same role in Poway.

A partner at McDougal, Love, Eckis, Boehmer and Foley, a firm that specializes in municipal law and provides city attorneys for five of the 18 cities in San Diego County, Foley was appointed just about a week after Lisa Foster resigned in a closed-door session of the City Council. Now, he spends two afternoons a week in Poway and has plans to resign from his position in Coronado by fiscal year's end.

Foley, a resident of the Mount Helix-La Mesa area who said he's glad there's little information about him on the Web after I mentioned how difficult it was for me to research him, took some time off from his schedule to sit down with Poway Patch for an interview.

Poway Patch: Why did you choose to apply to be the Poway city attorney?

Morgan Foley: It's been a client for us for many years since 1983 and when I came to this firm, Steve Eckis was the city attorney and I actually did work for him here in Poway. When he retired I still handled things like financing for the redevelopment agencies or the city, but by that time I already picked up the two cities.

Poway Patch: How were you chosen to apply for this job among your colleagues at the firm?

Foley: I was the only one that was available, in a sense, on the days of the council meetings, even though Coronado has meetings on the same days. It was just the process of elimination and my willingness to switch cities to keep us working for Poway.

Poway Patch: Your partner at the firm is former City Attorney Lisa Foster. How have you responded to those who are curious about her sudden resignation?

Foley: I really haven't had to deal with that and if someone wants to ask, they can always get in touch with her.

Poway Patch: Did she give you any tips when you took over?

Foley: I'm not sure if I had any tips, but her office is right next door to mine so when I have questions I ask her. I've been a city attorney for a number of years so ... if there's something that I need to know from a background basis on Poway, then I can ask her.

Poway Patch: How has your role with El Cajon and Coronado prepared you for Poway?

Foley: I don't know if they prepared me for Poway because I'm just getting started here. Coronado's a lot like Poway except it's a smaller community, but it's a community of people who are involved, come to council meetings, ask questions and do participate as volunteers on commissions and that sort of thing. El Cajon is not as involved with its citizenry to come to meetings but it's a much larger city than the two.

Poway Patch: What kind of challenges are you facing as you transition into this role?

Foley: Getting to know the community really is the biggest challenge and understanding where the council is going as far as policy goes. It really is unbeknownst to me as to what is out there, what people like or dislike about Poway or their government. It's getting used to that, finding out what issues are out there that need to be addressed by the council and, if necessary, by this office.

Poway Patch: OK, so let's talk about redevelopment now. Many local governments have said they'll sue the state if Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal comes to life. Have you talked about this for Poway or even El Cajon and Coronado?

Foley: I can't tell you what I've talked about with my clients. It's confidential. I can tell you it is a concern for all our municipal clients on what might happen if this legislation goes through. I do know that there are strong feelings out there that it's illegal, it's unconstitutional. I know that are very strong sentiments in that regard here in San Diego County—not only here in San Diego County but throughout the state. My guess is there will be some sort of a challenge if that legislation does get passed and signed. It's a challenge that could have some success as far as I can tell.

Poway Patch: So, from a legal standpoint—is it unconstitutional?

Foley: The proposed legislation attempts to circumvent Prop. 22 that was adopted by the voters last year. There's always a question as to whether the state can take away property, assets of another public entity just like a private entity. Those sort of issues may raise constitutional claims of taking without just compensation.

Poway Patch: OK, so back at the local level. Some of the most controversial cases stacked against the city of Poway are the gnatcatchers issue at Arbolitos Park and the ongoing battle against Lee Tartre and Diane Armstrong. What can Powegians expect from those cases now that you're the city attorney? Will they come to a close anytime soon?

Foley: I really don't know. I know that one of my partners is handling those. I honestly don't know what the status is.

Poway Patch: So, how does it work if you're the city attorney and someone else at your law firm handles the case?

Foley: We have a contract with the city. The contract allows the city to choose us and give us work. It could be litigation, finance issues, real property negotiations, personnel matters, employee disputes. ... besides that we provide the city attorney, a person like me who is the general practitioner in municipal law.

Poway Patch: Is the relationship comparable to a private client then?

Foley: It's sort of a mixture but it isn't much different from having a full-time city attorney like San Diego or Chula Vista. We just do it a different way. We don't have the city attorneys be employees of the city; the attorneys are our employees and we provide the services.

Poway Patch: What's one thing most people would be surprised to know about you?

Foley: You know, I couldn't tell ya.

Quick Facts:

Originally from Vizsla in the San Joaquin Valley.
Did his undergrad work in political science at UC Berkeley and graduate work at Santa Clara University (graduated in the same class as Councilwoman Merrilee Boyack though the two did not know each other).
Married with two sons, ages 24 and 27.
Hobbies are reading, golfing and traveling.

TEAM IN PART FROM SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY.03/16/2011KTLA News at 10 PM - KTLA-TV

THEN A DISABLED OF THAT THE VICTIM OF A CRUEL CRIME CROOKS ROBBING HIM OF THE MONEY NEEDED TO MOVE INTO AN APARTMENT APPEARED ALSO WEST COAST RAPPER AND NATE DOGG A LOCAL MAN RELISHES HIS FIRST TASTE OF FREEDOM IN 20 YEARS HE WAS RELEASED FROM PRISON TODAY AFTER DOING TIME FOR A CRIME HE DIDN'T COMMIT. IN SPITE OF HIS ORDEAL FRANCISCO CONSIDERS HIMSELF NOT BETTER BUT IS HAPPY AR-OLD FRANKIE SENTENCE THEM TO THE SEVERAL WITNESSES FROM THE STILL UNSOLVED MURDER OF TEENAGE BOYS AT THE TIME APPEARED CHANGED THEIR TONE AND R THE LEGAL TEAM IN PART FROM SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY.

FOR THE LEGAL TEAM IN PART FROM SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY.03/16/2011KTLA News at 10 PM - KTLA-TV

A LOCAL MAN RELISHES HIS FIRST TASTE OF FREEDOM IN 20 YEARS HE WAS RELEASED FROM PRISON TODAY AFTER DOING TIME FOR A CRIME HE DIDN'T COMMIT. IN SPITE OF HIS ORDEAL FRANCISCO CONSIDERS HIMSELF NOT BETTER BUT IS HAPPY SYSTEM AS A TITTER TEENAGER. 37 YEAR-OLD FRANKIE SENTENCE CAME BY A DRIVE-BY PARED . LEADING THEM TO THE SEVERAL WITNESSES FROM THE STILL UNSOLVED MURDER OF TEENAGE BOYS AT THE TIME APPEARED CHANGED THEIR TONE AND HIS CONVICTION WAS OVERTURNED. FOR THE LEGAL TEAM IN PART FROM SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY. 24 HOURS EARLIER THE MOMENTS IN COURT CAPTURED BY LA TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER OF VARIOUS CRISTINA HAUS. UP NEXT A STOP IN MANHATTAN BEACH TUESDAY WITH A FRIEND AND BEGAN THE REST OF HIS LIFE, INAUDIBLE . THIS IS JUST IN TO LEARN NEWSROOM 27 YEAR-OLD HOSPITAL WORKER IS IN CUSTODY TONIGHT ON SUSPICIOUS OF RAPE. HE IS ACCUSED OF THE SEXUAL ASSAULT OF AN ADULT FEMALE PATIENTS. WE FIRST BROUGHT YOU THIS STORY LAST NIGHT APPEARED HE HAD BEEN ASSIGNED TO MONITOR THE VICTIM'S BIOSCIENCE WHILE SHE WAS IN THE ART. SHE CLAIMS HE RICHTER . OFFICERS SAY HE GRABBED THE DEAD TEENAGER BY THE ARM AND PULLED HER SEVERAL FEET BUT SHE DID MANAGE TO BREAK AWAY AND CALL PLEASE . IT WAS A CRUEL CRIME. A VIETNAM VETERAN WAS ROBBED OF ALL HIS MONEY IN ORANGE COUNTY. POLICE MANAGE TO TRACK DOWN ONE OF THE SUSPECTS. 62 YEAR-OLD MICHAEL SHARETT'S CAN'T SHAKE THE IMAGE IS OUT OF HIS HEAD. TUESDAY NIGHT HE HAD JUST FINISHED HIS DINNER. WHEN TWO MEN CAME OUT OF NOWHERE PINNED HIM DOWN AND DEMANDED MONEY . ONE GRABBED ME BY THE ARMS AND HELD ME LIKE THIS HE HAD HIS FACE TO MY NOSE. GIVE ME YOUR MONEY AND GIVE ME YOUR MONEY BY THE WHEELCHAIR BOUND OF THAT COULDN'T GET AWAY AS 01 MEN HELD ON TO HIM THE OTHER GRABBED HIS BACK WITH ALL HIS MONEY IN IT. CHARETTE JUST MOVED TO ORANGE COUNTY FROM COLORADO EASIER TO GET A FRESH START. HE JUST CASHED IS THE SOCIAL SECURITY MONEY AND PLANNED ON USING THE MONEY FOR A NEW APARTMENT. BUT SANTA ANA POLICE ACTED QUICKLY IN FACT HOURS AFTER THE INCIDENT THERE ARRESTED ONE MAN. ROBERT DEAN IT JOYCE. DESPITE THE ATTACK HE SAYS IT'S NOT WANT TO GET HIM DOWN, CHARETTE RECEIVES IS NEXT DISABILITY CHECK ON APRIL 3RD RIGHT NOW IT DOES NOT KNOW WHERE HE IS ONE TO THIS DAY. THE POLICE ARE STILL STEPPING IN TO HELP HIM . GOOD EVENING WE HAD A BEAUTIFUL AFTERNOON TODAY BUT RAIN IS ON THE WAY.

As we all know, the fashion magazines are flooded with tons and tons of things we "must have" each season. Sometimes, even I will admit, it's hard to keep up. Not just in the sense that it is fashion overload (people like myself are totally fine with that), but hard in the sense that you do not want to retire something you bought after only 3-6 months of wearing it. That's why it's always smart to find those key items that not only last longer than one season, but that take you from one season to the next.

My pick for this season? What should you GO BUY NOW?

A tan skinny belt. Tan is the best neutral color out there and always will be. Unlike black and grey, tan literally can be paired with any color and will always look amazing.

HOW TO WEAR:

In the Spring & Summer: Wear it with your skinny jeans, your slacks and your shorts. Belt up a dress with it or even tie it in a knot.

In the Fall & Winter: Wear it with your wide legged trousers or any every-day pant. Belt up your big Winter coats and chunky knit sweaters.

You will always have this belt in your closet. Might just be the best money you've ever spent!

For info on where to buy, check out my blog! styleeyes.blog.com

Natalie packs a pint-sized punch of San Francisco smarts, sass, and style. She graduated from Santa Clara University, pulled up her SF roots and...

Reversing a promise made earlier, the makers of TurboTax disclosed on Friday that it will not update its tax-preparation software to provide step-by-step guidance for same-sex couples in California, Washington and Nevada and advised these users - unless they have very simple finances - to hire a professional to prepare their 2010 return.

The decision highlights the difficulties facing people who must comply with a new Internal Revenue Service ruling that applies to same-sex couples and registered domestic partners in the three states that have both registered partnerships and community property laws.

The ruling requires such couples to combine their community property income, but instead of reporting it on one joint return - as opposite-sex married couples do - each partner must report one-half of the combined income on a separate tax return.

That's not hard to do if the couple has only W-2 income from a job and takes the standard deduction. TurboTax says these users can still use its software to do their own taxes.

But if the couple itemizes deductions or has income from investments, a business, rental property or pensions, filing can get complicated.

"We think these individuals have to go to get personalized tax help to help them through it this year," says TurboTax spokeswoman Ashley Kirkendall.

TurboTax Vice President Bob Meighan said it was not the complexity of the IRS ruling but the timing that forced its decision to halt work on an update. "Our job is to take the complex and make it simple," he says, but "we need time to do this."

The IRS ruling came out in May, but most tax pros thought it would be optional for 2010. When 2010 tax forms and instructions were published early this year, they were surprised to see it was mandatory.

The IRS did not release an updated version of Publication 555, which covers community property, to include the ruling until late February.

TurboTax had been telling affected users that although its software can handle the new rule, they should wait to file their returns until after Publication 555 was revised so TurboTax could provide additional guidance.

"We had over the past couple months a team really focused on how we could get this updated correctly," Kirkendall says. On Friday, "the team made the decision it's not feasible."

TurboTax had been testing the software on couples in California, but uncovered a lot of individual and legal issues, such as whether the couple had a prenuptial agreement.

"For us to put it into the product by April 18 (this year's tax filing deadline) would be a monumental effort," Meighan says.

TurboTax also feared that if it made a lot of programming changes without having time to properly test them, it could "jeopardize the experience for the rest of our customers," Meighan adds. "There is a risk in doing all this extensive work, you break something else."

Kirkendall says customers who bought the desktop version of TurboTax can get a refund if they are unhappy. Online users don't pay until they file their tax returns.

TurboTax is working on a service that would put customers who need help with same-sex returns in touch with users of its professional tax-preparation software, but not until after April 18, Kirkendall says.

Intuit's TurboTax is the leading consumer tax-prep program.

A spokeswoman for TaxAct, a competing product, says the program does not lead same-sex couples through the process of filing a federal return under the new ruling, but it has incorporated an allocation worksheet they can use to figure out how much income each partner should report.

Jessi Dolmage of TaxAct says it has support specialists who have specific training in this area and that users can call or e-mail for help. There is a one-time-per-tax season fee for phone assistance.

Pat Cain, who teaches tax law at Santa Clara University and blogs on same-sex issues, says she's going to try to do her taxes herself, but will use TurboTax to handle the calculations.

The Sins of Brother Curtis: A Story of Betrayal, Conviction, and the Mormon Church hits the bookstores today—and author Lisa Davis will be discussing the book and signing copies at the Borders on Fair Oaks tomorrow evening.

In The Sins of Brother Curtis, Davis details the career of one of the most prolific serial child molesters in the U.S., Frank Curtis. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, he was “called” to serve as a Sunday School teacher and Boy Scout leader, which gave him ample access to children.

He molested boys in several Portland, Oregon wards from 1976 to 1991. It was the last victim who filed a lawsuit against the LDS Church—because a bishop had told his mother than they “knew” Curtis was a pedophile and hadn't warned the family—that it was discovered that the church had, in fact, known for years that Curtis was a danger to children. He'd even been excommunicated, then re-baptized and returned to the positions from which he preyed upon children.

Davis is a Sacramento native and a graduate of John F. Kennedy High School who started her journalism career at Sacramento City College. Her first writing job was at the Sacramento Business Journal. She's also done investigative reporting for several alt-weeklies, including the Phoenix New Times and SF Weekly, and currently teaches journalism at Santa Clara University.

She spoke with SN&R by phone this morning:

SN&R: It really struck me, where you noted that Mormons had pretty much taken over the Boy Scouts…

Lisa Davis: Boy Scouts of America is a separate entity, technically, from the LDS Church; but the church is the largest single sponsor of the BSA. I think the Methodist Church is the second, but the LDS Church is far and away the largest sponsor. The Mormon Church has embraced BSA as the church youth group, which means, if you're a Mormon boy, you're going to be in Boy Scouts. Because of that, almost every ward has a Boy Scout troop, and that's why there's so much crossover in these molestation cases.

Now, a few years ago, the LDS Church made it a policy that every one of the church Boy Scout troops had to have their leaders vetted through the BSA. I'm not sure what BSA vetting includes, but BSA has its own set of problems. I don't know if there's a background check, but even if there was, Frank Curtis would have passed it. His criminal records were decades old and he'd never been arrested for child molestation.

I also found it interesting that the disciplinary records for Curtis listed “homosexuality” instead of “pedophilia” as the reason for his ex-communication…

There's no real explanation for that. The case didn't go to trial, so it didn't get brought up. I was only able to discover that because of some documents that were entered into the record before the records were sealed. Let me make a shout out to the Portland Oregonian, which wrote about the case at the time and got the information out there to be found.

It was a tremendously interesting detail to me that those records revealed that he'd been ex-communicated by the LDS because of “homosexuality” rather than child molesting.

It also struck me as absolutely outrageous that at least one of the boys, a victim, was punished by the church…

So many parts of this story—everything about this story—was outrageous: The amount of time that it was allowed to continue, the number of victims, the ferocious fight to keep it secret, the constitutional issues about religious belief versus conduct.

Can you speak a little to those constitutional issues?

Those came up in a couple of different ways. One of them revolves around the [LDS] belief in redemption. In the court case it, became known as the “clean slate” argument. What happened was that Frank Curtis had been found out and ex-communicated by the church structure at one point. He went through a period of repentance and then was re-baptized. After that, he once again had access to children through Sunday school and church activities.

In court, the lawyers [for the LDS] argued that church leaders had a constitutional right to exercise their faith through the “clean slate” doctrine and that the court couldn't examine their beliefs. Essentially, that meant that the claim [by the victims] that [the church] had a responsibility to warn parents was a violation of their right to practice their religion

Was it complicated by the LDS' reliance on lay clergy?

Almost every state has a clergy-penitent law. It's designed for confession, because we as a society believe that people have a right to unburden our sins to a religious leader without fear, and that's what it's for. But this comes into play when the LDS Church argued that pretty much any conversation with anyone in the church had clergy-penitent privilege.

So if Joe and Bob are talking about the weekend, and Joe is an LDS bishop, it's clergy-penitent privilege?

That's what they claimed. It was part of the war of attrition that the church was waging against [the victim] Jeremiah Scott's lawyers, because everything they tried to do, everything they tried to find out, first had to be fought on the ground of clergy-penitent privilege. And the LDS Church was losing in the appeal and supreme courts of several states, but they had the deep pockets and the lawyers to wear the victim's lawyers down. [The LDS Church's lawyers] were fighting a war of attrition, in which one side wins just because the other side can't keep up.

It drains all the fairness out of the system. One of the victim's lawyers said, “It's one thing to lose because you have bad facts, and it's another thing to lose because you just can't play.”

There were some dark days.

Do you think we'll see more of these cases?

Institutional child sex abuse is not exclusive to the Mormon Church. As there is growing awareness in the population in general—and in the Mormon population—there's a growing awareness that, regardless of your religion, sex abusers have to be kept away from children.

Do you think pressure from within the LDS Church will change the way they handle molestation cases?

They can certainly change procedure. I'm not sure they can change their doctrine.

But the law views religion uniquely. It breaks religion into belief and conduct. Belief is protected by the constitution. It's deeply historical for us to fully protect belief. Conduct is another story. The basic example is that you can believe in human sacrifice but you can't do it.

Still, it gets messy when you get into the practice. The act of calling a person like Frank Curtis into a position in the church has been called by some courts an extension of belief.

Where the conduct comes into play, and where this can be a simple matter of changing policy and procedure, is when you institute supervision and background checks, and then you can change things to keep children safe with structures and procedures.

This was also a particularly long period of serial molesting. The first victim found in this case was in 1976, and the plaintiff was believed to be the last victim in 1993. My personal belief, based on researching Frank Curtis's life, is that there are many, many more victims. I don't think we'll ever find them.

One of the interesting things about Frank was that he told these gangster stories about being in the mob and having done all these “bad things.” He was a big man, wore a fedora, had a big voice, so he really was a kind of intimidating character. I wasn't sure if this was just his schtick or what.

But I was able to trace him back to Chicago, where he was born in 1903, and his criminal record started when he was 12 with petty theft, street crime and then he graduated to armed robbery. Given where he was and what he was doing at that time, it's possible that he worked for Al Capone, but he would have been low-level. But he was in a criminal enterprise. It's fascinating, really.

So there's a record. My favorite treasure from this archaeological dig was a criminal record from Detroit in 1929—in there it describes his—not just his crimes, but it describes him. I think this was the equivalent of a competency evaluation in 1929.

It says that he's simple, he's unstable and primitive and child-like. It also said in there that he had inappropriate sexual behavior with boys. There's this one sentence, but it's a powerful clue. If, in 1929, they say that he's having sex with young boys, and we think that Jeremiah Scott was his last victim in 1991, that's more than 60 years.

How long did you work on this book?

About eight years, but I didn't work on it full time. I'd put it aside and do other things, but really it took eight years. I'm ready to end my relationship with the dead pedophile.

This is that story, you know, where everything about it was interesting. He was 70 years old before he molested any of these victims in this particular case. No one knows what a pedophile looks like, but nobody thought Frank Curtis looked like one.

One of my sources said that, if you'd lined up one hundred people, including Frank, and asked him to number them for who was likely to be a pedophile, Frank would be 98th.

It was also excessively creepy that he'd had penile implants, which allowed him to continue molesting.

It's tremendously interesting – he had essentially been castrated – and after it … I had lengthy conversations with urologists. His testes had been removed before he ever molested any of the kids in this case. If that's not proof that castration isn't a prevention, I don't know what is.

Educational series for corporate clients will explore various aspects of performance-based equity compensation plans

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Morgan Stanley Smith Barney will host a series of Regional Roundtables for U.S. corporate clients of its Global Stock Plan Services group, with the first event scheduled on March 17 in Houston. The series will focus on performance-based equity compensation plans and feature speakers from PriceWaterhouseCoopers and other industry leaders. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney provides stock plan services to 2.5 million participants at more than 500 corporations globally, including 25 percent of the Fortune 500.1

“Performance awards can be challenging for equity compensation professionals, making efficient administration and accurate financial reporting more valuable than ever. The roundtables give our clients the opportunity to explore best practices surrounding this topic and get answers to their questions,” said Julian Clark, Managing Director and Head of Global Stock Plan Services at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney recently teamed up with the Certified Equity Professional Institute (CEPI) at Santa Clara University to be the team sponsor of the GPS/Performance Awards study, whose findings will be discussed at the roundtables. Speakers will address challenges that equity compensation professionals face in administering the plans and building employee understanding of them.

A judge ruled Monday that Francisco Carrillo should be freed from prison after witnesses recanted their testimony. | View Clip03/15/2011KTLA -TV - Online

Francisco Carrillo smiles while seated between attorneys Ellen Eggers, left, and Linda Starr after hearing the judge's decision to overturn his conviction at the Compton Courthouse on Monday. Credit: Christina House / For The Times (Credit: Christina House / For The Los Angeles Times / March 15, 2011)

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) -- A man who has been in prison for 20 years for a murder he says he didn't commit, will soon be a free man.

Francisco "Franky" Carrillo, 37, was convicted in 1992 for the murder of Donald Sarpy, but, a Superior Court judge overturned the conviction Monday after several witnesses recanted their testimony.

Judge Paul A. Bacigalupo made his decision after a week of testimony that raised questions about whether there was enough evidence to prove Carrillo committed the crime.

Judge Bacigalup ordered Carrillo's release from incarceration pending the district attorney's decision on whether to dismiss the charges against Carrillo.

Prosecutors conceded that new evidence required the reversal and that it was unlikely they would seek to retry Carrillo.

Linda Starr, legal director of the Northern California Innocence Project at Santa Clara University and a member of Carrillo's legal team, said, "Franky Carrillo is innocent and after nearly 20 years, his release is a victory for justice."

She added, "His conviction is another stark example of major problems that contribute to so many wrongful convictions  bad eyewitness identifications caused by poor police identification procedures and tunnel vision by police that not only keeps them from even considering that they may have made a mistake, but results in their continuing to work to vindicate their original bad work."

Carrillo is expected to be freed from the Los Angeles County jail sometime Tuesday afternoon.

Carrillo was convicted of the 1991 murder based on identification testimony from six people, including the victim's son. All six have now admitted that they did not really see anything, and were influenced to make their identifications of Carrillo. In addition, two other men have confessed to the shooting and said that Carrillo was not involved.

During six days of testimony, the witnesses testified that they could not really see the shooter's face, and the true perpetrators asserted their rights against self-incrimination and refused to testify. Carrillo also testified that he was not involved in the shooting. Defense investigator David Lynn testified to a confession he obtained from another man who exonerated Carrillo.

At the hearing, the witness who was the first to implicate Carrillo back in 1991 took the witness stand and apologized to Carrillo, saying he was willing to accept punishment for what he had done because he knew that it was wrong and that he had stolen the life of an innocent man.

Donald Sarpy, 41, was murdered on January 18, 1991, when he was shot as he stepped out of his home in Lynwood. Sarpy's son, Dameon, and five other friends were nearby, but none were wounded.

Their initial statements demonstrated how little they saw. A few told police that they heard someone in a passing car shout a Hispanic gang slogan (the neighborhood was controlled by an African-American gang whose rival was a Hispanic gang) and they could only describe the shooter as a Hispanic male teenager. The witnesses could not agree on what the car looked like--providing descriptions ranging from tan to black and shiny to dull. Some said there were three males in the car and some said there were only two males in the car.

Carrillo, who was 16 years old at the time, became a suspect after law enforcement, due to a mix-up in street names, erroneously came to believe that he was the perpetrator of another shooting. The first witness to identify Carrillo was Scott Turner, one of the attempted murder victims, who identified Carrillo from a photographic lineup and then told his friends that he had chosen the person in position number 1 and also described what Carrillo looked like.

When the other attempted murder victims were shown the photo lineup months later, all chose Number 1, Carrillo's photograph, because Turner had told them that Carrillo was the shooter. With no physical evidence linking Carrillo to the crime, their testimony was critical to the prosecution.

Carrillo was tried twice. The first ended in a mistrial after jurors were deadlocked 7 to 5 for acquittal. In 1992 at his second trial, Turner recanted his identification of Mr. Carrillo, but the remaining five witnesses strengthened their identifications, eliminated inconsistencies in their testimony and the district attorney argued that because Turner was in custody, he was simply scared to be labeled a "snitch."

The jury convicted Carrillo on all counts and he was sentenced to two consecutive life prison sentences.

At his sentencing on December 3, 1992, a criminal defense attorney came to court and announced that a former client was in the hallway, that the client was at the crime scene, and that he would say that Carrillo had not been involved. The trial judge denied that request and sent Carrillo to prison.

In March of 2003, after his conviction had been upheld by California courts, Carrillo discovered for the first time that handwritten notes from the man who came to court at his sentencing were still in the defense investigator's file. In those notes, the man admitted to his participation in the murder.

It is my pleasure to invite you to apply for the 2011 Tech Awards, or nominate an organization you know who might be interested in this award. The Tech Awards honors innovators who are creatively applying technology to benefit humanity in the areas of Environment, Economic Development, Education, Equality and Health. Fifteen laureates in five categories will be honored at a Gala event in October 2011 in Silicon Valley, California, and five Laureates will each be awarded a cash prize of $50,000 USD.

To nominate yourself, or someone you know, please visit: http://nominations.techawards.org/nominate/nominee.asp

Key Dates:

Nominations or Self-Nominations due: March 31, 2011

Applications due: May 2, 2011

Laureates announced: August 2011

Laureate week in California: October 17-21, 2011

We hope that you will take this opportunity to apply for this prestigious and impactful program, or nominate someone you know. If you have any questions, please contact: techawards@thetech.org.

Further Information on The Tech Awards and the application process, and the selection criteria can be found at: www.techawards.org.

Best wishes and good luck,

The Tech Museum & The Center for Science, Technology and Society at Santa Clara University

The Bay Area is home to a wealth of intriguing and informative museums, but the entry fee for many will put a serious dent in your own wealth. Producers at Eye on the Bay have put together this list of free days at local attractions – included are several local attractions that are always free to the public.

San Francisco

SF Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)

151 3rd St

San Francisco, CA 94103

(415) 357-4000

Free first Tuesday of every month

Half Priced Admission on Thursdays from 5pm to 8:45pm

Families with children are free the first and third Sunday of every month

Caledonia Patch begins its Racine Unified School District Board of Education election coverage this week with profiles of the five candidates competing for three positions.

Each of the candidates were interviewed individually and asked to comment on identical questions. The candidates' responses will appear over the next few days.

Three incumbents and two challengers are seeking three-year terms on the board. Members are elected at-large to the nine-member School Board, which sets policy for RUSD—the state's fourth largest school district.

Roger Pfost, 79, of 3114 Caledonia St., wants a seat on the Racine Unified School District Board of Education because he believes the district needs to be more accountable to the public. Pfost is making his second run for School Board; he was an unsuccessful candidate in 2006.

A Racine native, he is a graduate of Horlick High School and holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from Marquette University and a master's degree in business administration from Santa Clara University. Now retired, Pfost has worked as a real estate agent, a business operations manager, an operational systems consultant and an insurance claims manager.

Pfost has two sons, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He is a member of the Racine Taxpayers Association.

The Racine Unified School District has long struggled with an achievement gap between its white students and its students of color. What do you believe can be done to improve the learning of all RUSD students?

The district has got to concentrate on the three Rs – reading, writing and arithmetic. In the new Excel program (offered at community centers), you've got certified instructors for things like tap dancing, cooking and video production. You need to stick with the basics.

I'm not an educator, but I believe that any proposals from the district should have benchmarks attached so they (administrators) can measure student achievement.

RUSD currently has a building maintenance backlog in excess of $80 million. What should be done to address this?

My past experience as an operations consultant included overseeing maintenance operations. Projects must be prioritized. You have to have a plan of what is to done. Then, report back on what is accomplished or why it's not being accomplished.

Now it's true that with some projects, you don't know how complex they can be until you get into it. But, an experienced maintenance supervisor will look at a situation and report back.

Maintenance is one of the least understood areas, but it's one of the most profitable to control. You get more bang for your buck than anything else.

In your opinion, does the general public have a favorable or unfavorable impression of Racine's public schools? Why?

I can only go by own experience with my granddaughter in which there are good schools and bad schools.

From what I've seen, the principals should be given more control as to how their schools are run. One of my objectives, when I'm elected, is to find out exactly how the district's reporting structure works.

Come back next week to find out the candidates' positions on the referendum.

1999 change in FCC rulesthat allowed a single company to own more than one television station in the same market. That arrangement, known as a duopoly, lets big conglomerates such as News Corp. buy up stations, reduce their staffs and consolidate newsrooms. Murdoch now has nine duopolies. According to Santa Clara University's Allen Hammond, a staggering 109 duopolies were created between 2000 and 2006.

The problem isn't just that control over the airwaves becomes concentrated; it's that such consolidation often results in the gutting of local news coverage. Duopoly owners tend to duplicate their local coverage and reduce the amount of airtime dedicated to community news. The subsequent lack of coverage gives local governments a free pass to operate without any real media scrutiny.

In New Jersey, for example, News Corp. owns both WWOR, northern New Jersey's local station, and WNYW just across the river in New York. In 2009, WWOR's only hour of local news was reduced to 30 minutes. And because so many news resources are shared between WWOR and WNYW (including, not incidentally, a co-anchor), very little of what is covered in the newscast focuses on northern New Jersey. As Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.)

But media and democracy groups haven't taken that lying down. In 2007, a citizens' group called Voice for New Jersey

expanded its investigation to see whether News Corp. lied in filings about how much local coverage it actually offers and how many reporters it employs.

Duopolies are not the only gift the FCC has given to big corporate media. In 2007, the

FCC relaxed its rules on cross-ownership, allowing a single company to own a newspaper as well as either a television or radio station in the same community. "The mogul's dream is the citizen's nightmare," The Nation's John Nichols wrote at the time.

Kevin Martin, the FCC chairman at that time, claimed that such rules would help newspapers and other local outlets survive in a challenging financial climate.

But Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, the two Democrats on the commission, called the proposal "

a wolf in sheep's clothing" and said it would result in less news, not more. "In the final analysis, the real winners today are businesses that are in many cases quite healthy," Copps said, "and the real losers are going to be all of us who depend on the news media to learn what's happening in our communities and to keep an eye on local government."

Then-Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) asked the Appropriations Committee to deny funding for implementing the rules out of concern that it would reduce the number of minority- and female-owned stations nationwide. The rules have been challenged in court, and may soon be overturned; oral arguments in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit were heard at the end of February. But given the FCC's track record, it's an open question whether such a ruling would have a noticeable impact.

That's because the FCC has the authority to grant waivers to broadcasters if they can show that an otherwise prohibited merger is in the public interest. The FCC has shown a willingness, again and again, to disregard its own rules for the benefit of big media. In New Jersey, for example, News Corp.'s temporary waiver allowing it to own WWOR and the New York Post expired in 2008. But the FCC has taken no action.

While the relaxation of the duopoly rules still prevents certain TV station mergers (between two top-ranked stations, for example), broadcasters are circumventing them. According to Corie Wright of Free Press, these broadcasters are "entering into contractual agreements whereby they share news coverage and station operations, though they purport to maintain separate ownership structures. The arrangements result in duplicate coverage being aired on stations that are supposed to be competing for viewers." Complaints have been filed with the FCC; not surprisingly, the FCC has not acted.

The impact of media consolidation is not abstract. New Jersey has 566 municipalities, but the entire state has only two licensed commercial stations. When media conglomerates take control of those stations, consolidate their newsrooms, lay off reporters and duplicate coverage, it has the effect of creating a news vacuum across the state. Corruption goes unchecked. Local political issues with significant consequences go unnoticed. It also results in the decline of other important programming. According to a

study by Children Now, duopoly stations decrease their amount of children's programming at four to five times the rate as non-duopoly stations.

It's time for the FCC to take its role and its obligations more seriously, to recognize that the public interest is not served by unchecked media consolidation. Access to news and information is fundamental to democracy; attempts to weaken it should be met with protest. If the FCC were doing its job, it would deny any further ownership waivers to News Corp. in New Jersey and elsewhere. And it would compel News Corp. to divest from any anti-competitive arrangement where a waiver has already expired.

The Assault on the Already Crippled SEC and CFTC Will Increase "Control Fraud" | The Big Picture | View Clip03/15/2011BIG PICTURE, The

By Barry Ritholtz - March 15th, 2011, 9:30AM

Bill Black is an Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri - Kansas City (UMKC). He was the Executive Director of the Institute for Fraud Prevention from 2005-2007. He has taught previously at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and at Santa Clara University, where he was also the distinguished scholar in residence for insurance law and a visiting scholar at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.

William K. Black

The SEC and the CFTC's budgets are not provided by the federal budget. The agencies, as with the federal banking regulatory agencies, are funded by user fees. None of these agencies' budgets contribute to the deficit. When these agencies fail to stop epidemics of "control fraud" the result can be a Great Recession and trillions of dollars in increased deficits. The asymmetry is so stark that anyone serious about deficits would make ensuring the effectiveness of the SEC, CFTC, and the banking regulatory agencies among their greatest priorities. Supposed deficit hawks in the House are also among the strongest proponents of cutting the SEC, CFTC, and banking regulatory agencies' budget even though this cannot have any positive effect on deficits and is exceptionally likely to produce the next financial and economic crisis that will produce the next sharp increase in the federal deficit. This is significantly insane, and it is even more insane that no one seems to call them on their insanity.

The purported logic for slashing the SEC and CFTC budgets represents another form of insanity. The logic is that the SEC and the CFTC failed to prevent the epidemic of accounting control fraud that drove the current financial crisis, the Great Recession, and the growing budget deficit. That is true, but proves the opposite. The SEC and the CFTC failures were self-fulfilling prophecies by kindred ideologues of those now seeking to slash the SEC and CFTC budgets.

Deregulation was part of the story. The Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000 deliberately created two regulatory black holes. The Act's primary goal was to block Brooksley Born's efforts to protect the public from the risks of credit default swaps (CDS), but the subsidiary goal was Enron and its fellow cartel members' desire to manipulate energy derivatives in order to produce the California energy crisis and reap monopoly rents. I have written previously about the SEC farce of supposed "comprehensive" regulation of the largest U.S. investment banking firms (designed explicitly to exempt them from comprehensive regulation by the European Union).

The larger part of the story, however, was desupervision and de facto decriminalization. My prior columns have detailed how our anti-regulatory leaders were selected precisely because they opposed vigorous enforcement of the nation's securities and banking laws.

Collectively, the three "des" - deregulation, desupervision, and de facto decriminalization - created a crippling "systems capacity" crisis that achieved its goal of eliminating effective financial regulation in the U.S. for roughly a decade. The result of removing the regulatory system's capacity to deal effectively with accounting control fraud was an epidemic of such fraud that caused the worst financial and economic crisis in 75 years. There is something outright obscene for the ideologues that gutted regulatory effectiveness to claim that their "success" in causing the regulatory failures justifies exacerbating those failures by budgetary cuts.

Deliberate, crippling limitations on financial regulatory budgets, staffing levels, and pay have played important roles in causing systems capacity problems in prior crises. Consider six recent financial regulatory staffing crises and the House's ongoing attempts to worsen the SEC and the CFTC's systems capacity problems.

1. In the savings & loan debacle, the Reagan administration froze the hiring of examiners and OMB refused to allow the agency the authority to hire any material increase in staff. Congress limited the Federal Home Loan Bank Board's pay authority to levels materially less than its sister regulatory agencies. This mandatory pay disparity caused the Bank Board to suffer from excessive turnover, staff shortages, and inadequate staff quality. Bank Board Chairman Gray's innovative use of the Federal Home Loan Banks to hire staff at competitive pay levels and his personal recruitment of senior banking regulators with a track record of vigorous regulation proved essential to the successful reregulation and supervision of the industry that contained that debacle before it could cause an economic crisis.

2. In the run up to the Enron era crisis, Congress limited the SEC's pay grades to levels materially below the banking regulatory agencies. This produced the same pattern of high turnover, staff shortages, and impaired quality. Republicans in Congress repeatedly sought to exacerbate the SEC's systems capacity crisis by reducing its budget - at a time when its regulatory duties were growing massively because of the extraordinary growth of finance.

3. In the run up to the current crisis the FDIC's leadership, over the course of 15 years, cut the FDIC staff by more than three-quarters. The FDIC often used "early outs" to shed its most expensive staff, i.e., its most experienced staff. The combined effect was that the FDIC's remaining staff was so grossly inadequate that it could not examine the banks. It responded to its systems incapacity by greatly reducing its non-safety and soundness examinations (particularly examinations of compliance under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)), by virtually ending the use of its "backup" examination authority of banks for which the FDIC was not the primary regulator, and by adopting the infamous MERIT examination system for safety and soundness examinations. MERIT was a travesty. It achieved its purported "maximum efficiency" by directing examiners not even to review a sample of bad loans. Again, this was insane - failing to examine loan quality makes examination a farce. The FDIC gutted its staff even as the need for examination and supervision grew dramatically due to the profusion of fraudulent liar's loans and the hyper-concentration of smaller banks in commercial real estate lending.

4. The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) also cut its staff in the run up to the current crisis. It did so even though S&Ls were the leading federally insured lenders making fraudulent liar's loans and the need for intense examination and supervision required greatly increased staff.

5. The SEC and the CFTC suffered from severe budgetary and staffing limitations in the run up to the current crisis. Congress initially expanded the SEC's budget and staff in response to the Enron-era crisis, but the number of SEC staff fell materially during the key years in the run up to the financial crisis. For the SEC and the CFTC, this decreased staffing was particularly harmful because the agencies faced a substantial need to provide staff to investigate the Enron-era frauds and greatly increased market manipulation at the same time that the epidemics of accounting control fraud and the underlying mortgage fraud were surging. The SEC and the CFTC also faced the overall rapid expansion of finance and technological changes in derivatives and hyper-trading. These changes caused critical inadequacies in SEC and CFTC staff levels, staff expertise, and technological resources.

6. Contemporaneously, the FBI and the Department of Justice suffered from critical staffing inadequacies to deal with the twin, related epidemics of accounting control fraud and mortgage fraud. The FBI transferred 500 FBI agents specializing in white-collar crime investigations to national security in response to the 9/11 attacks. The administration refused to allow the FBI to replace these lost white-collar specialists. The loss of the white-collar FBI agents was made far worse by the need to assign hundreds of the remaining FBI white-collar crime specialists to investigate the Enron-era accounting control frauds. The combined effect was that as late as FY 2008 there were only 180 FBI agents assigned to investigate mortgage fraud. There were 1000 FBI agents assigned to investigate S&L frauds during the debacle. Those FBI agents, working closely with the regulators, were essential to producing the over 1000 felony convictions in "major" S&L frauds committed during the debacle. The current crisis, of course, is vastly greater than the S&L debacle but we have roughly one-fifth as many FBI agents assigned to investigating the current frauds (and they are overwhelmingly assigned to relatively minor cases).

Not a single senior executive at the large fraudulent lenders making the liar's loans has been convicted. Our most elite accounting control frauds now loot with impunity. The deliberate creation of severe systems capacity problems is an important contributor to the death of accountability and the rise of crony capitalism in the United States.

Reported in Shove, "The place of Marshall's Principles in the development of economic theory," -Wildon Carr, Economic Journal December 1942, p. 323.

The XLRI School of Business & Human Resources has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with California-based Santa Clara University (SCU) to promote and foster social entrepreneurship in the country.

The two institutes have decided to collaborate whereby XLRI is to be the Indian partner to manage and support Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI), the signature programme of the Center for Science, Technology & Society (CSTS) of Santa Clara University.

GSBI (Global Social Benefit Incubator) is a globally-known incubation programme, which was started by the Santa Clara University in 2003.

Each year GSBI screens and selects around 15-20 social ventures from across the globe and incubates them by providing technical inputs, mentoring support and some grant to make them investor-ready.

Speaking to FE here on Sunday, XLRI Madhukar Shukla, who will be coordinating the partnership said though talks regarding collaboration with Santa Clara University had commenced around August 2009, formalities like signing of the MoU between the two institutions got completed on March 11.

Since its inception in 2003 there have been about 30 GSBI alumni social ventures in India, which include some of the globally well-known organisations such as Gram Vikas, Jaipur Rugs, Drishtee, Mother Earth, Husk Power Systems, Video Volunteers, Naandi Foundation, etc.

As GSBI's Indian partner, XLRI Jamshedpur would identify and recommend Indian social entrepreneurs to GSBI for incubation and access to seasoned Silicon Valley mentors. In addition, XLRI would also partner with SCU to conduct due-diligence on the Indian applicant to ensure appropriate potential and quality.

As the Indian partner, faculty from XLRI would also provide such post-incubation mentoring support to the Indian social ventures.

"GSBI is a one-year incubation programme which comes with a grant of $25,000; on getting selected each incubatee goes through a month-long rigourous mentoring done at Santa Clara which takes their social entrepreneurship project to the point of being readily acceptable to the investor who is looking forward to investing in such projects," said Shukla, adding that Santa Clara's mentoring makes good the gaps in the project plan being presented by the incubatee, while also correcting assumptions in the business plan if they were not matching with reality, besides offering him/her tips for pitching the right things before investors.

XLRI Jamshedpur and Santa Clara University (SCU), California, USA, have signed an MOU to promote and foster social entrepreneurship in India. The two institutes have decided to collaborate whereby XLRI will be the Indian partner to manage and support Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI), the signature program of the Center for Science, Technology, and Society of Santa Clara University.

Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, March 13, 2011 /India PRwire/ -- Santa Clara University's GSBI (Global Social Benefit Incubator) is a globally-known program, which was started by the Santa Clara University in 2003. Every year, GSBI screens and selects about 15-20 social ventures from across the globe, and provides them with incubates them by providing technical inputs and mentoring and some grant to make them investor-ready. Over the year, there are about 30 GSBI alumni social ventures in India, which include some of the globally well-known organizations such as Gram Vikas, Jaipur Rugs, Drishtee, Mother Earth, Husk Power Systems, Video Volunteers, Naandi Foundation, etc. As GSBI's Indian partner, XLRI Jamshedpur will identify and recommend Indian social entrepreneurs to GSBI for incubation and access to seasoned Silicon Valley mentors. In addition, XLRI will also partner with SCU to conduct due-diligence on the applicant Indian ventures to ensure appropriate potential and quality. Many GSBI' Indian incubatees have also expressed a desire for continued mentoring on an as-needed basis after their graduation from SCU's GSBI program. As the Indian partner, faculty from XLRI will provide this post-incubation mentoring support to the Indian social ventures.

According to Prof Madhukar Shukla of XLRI, who will be coordinating this partnership, "With about 30 GSBI social ventures in India, which range from the well-established ones to very young start-ups, there is an enormous potential to facilitate mentoring relationship among the GSBI alumni themselves." XLRI will also be hosting the GSBI Alumni Network in India, and provide them with opportunities for interaction as well as access to innovation resources through XLRI faculty and alumni networks. XLRI and SCU also plan to collaborate to develop case-studies of the GSBI's Indian alumni ventures. "These case-studies will be a valuable academic resource to promote learning about sustainable models of socio-economic development, and will help dissemination of practices and lessons learned in the social entrepreneurial space" said Prof. Shukla. Having developed and tested the model for fostering social entrepreneurship through its GSBI program over years, Santa Clara University is aiming to form international partnerships across the campuses to promote and support social entrepreneurship. This partnership with XLRI Jamshedpur is the first international partnership which Santa Clara University has formed.

About XLRI Jamshedpur: School of Business & Human Resources

XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business & Human Resources is an AICTE-recognised premier management institute in India, which was established in 1949 in the steel city of Tatanagar, Jharkhand. Founded by the Jesuit Society, XLRI has been a pioneer in the field of management education for over six decades, and has remained committed to the principles of Excellence with Integrity and Social Concern.

XLRI offers wide-ranging educational programs to meet the specific needs of individuals and organizations, which include 2-year full-time programs in Business Management and in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations, 1-year full-time Executive MBA (called General Management Program), part-time management programs in Dubai and Singapore for practicing executives, and a number of specialized certificate courses through satellite platform. With its faculty strength of more than 70, the institute also provides consultancy services, management training programs and applied research services to private and public sector organizations, government, and to social/development sector.

Jamshedpur, March 14 -- XLRI Jamshedpur and Santa Clara University (SCU), California, USA, have signed an MOU to promote and foster social entrepreneurship in India. The two institutes have decided to collaborate whereby XLRI will be the Indian partner to manage and support Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI), the signature programmememe of the Center for Science, Technology, and Society of Santa Clara University.

GSBI (Global Social Benefit Incubator) is a globally-known incubation programme, which was started by the Santa Clara University in 2003. Every year, GSBI screens and selects about 15-20 social ventures from across the globe, and incubates them by providing technical inputs, mentoring support and some grant to make them investor-ready. Over the year, there are about 30 GSBI alumni social ventures in India, which include some of the globally well-known organizations such as Gram Vikas, Jaipur Rugs, Drishtee, Mother Earth, Husk Power Systems, Video Volunteers, Naandi Foundation, etc.

As GSBI's Indian partner, XLRI Jamshedpur will identify and recommend Indian social entrepreneurs to GSBI for incubation, and access to seasoned Silicon Valley mentors. In addition, XLRI will also partner with SCU to conduct due-diligence on the Indian applicant to ensure appropriate potential and quality.

Many GSBI' Indian incubatees also often need continued mentoring on an as-needed basis after their graduation from SCU's GSBI programme. As the Indian partner, faculty from XLRI will provide this post-incubation mentoring support to the Indian social ventures.

According to Prof Madhukar Shukla of XLRI, who will be coordinating this partnership, "With about 30 GSBI social ventures in India, which range from the well-established ones to very young start-ups, there is an enormous potential to facilitate mentoring relationship among the GSBI alumni themselves." XLRI will also be hosting the GSBI Alumni Network in India, and provide them with opportunities for interaction as well as access to innovation resources through XLRI faculty and alumni networks.

XLRI and SCU also plan to collaborate to develop case-studies of the GSBI's Indian alumni ventures. "These case-studies will be a valuable academic resource to promote learning about sustainable models of socio-economic development, and will help dissemination of practices and lessons learned in the social entrepreneurial space" said Prof Shukla.

Having developed and tested the model for fostering social entrepreneurship through its GSBI programme over years, Santa Clara University is aiming to form international partnerships across the campuses to promote and support social entrepreneurship. This partnership with XLRI Jamshedpur is the first international partnership which Santa Clara University has formed.

XLRI offers wide-ranging educational programmes to meet the specific needs of individuals and organisations, which include 2-year full-time programmes in Business Management and in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations, 1-year full-time Executive MBA (called General Management Programme), part-time management programmes in Dubai and Singapore for practicing executives, and a number of specialised certificate courses through satellite platform. Published by HT Syndication with permission from Pioneer. For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com

JAMSHEDPUR: The premier B school of the country, XLRI, Jamshedpur and Santa Clara University (SCU), California, USA, have signed an MoU to promote and foster social entrepreneurship in India.

The two institutes have decided to collaborate where XLRI will be the Indian partner to manage and support Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI), the signature programme of Centre for Science, Technology, and Society of Santa Clara University.

The GSBI is a globally-known incubation programme, which was started by the Santa Clara University in the year 2003. Every year, GSBI screens and selects about 15-20 social ventures from across the globe, and incubates them by providing technical inputs, mentoring support and some grant to make them investor-ready.

Over the years, there are about 30 GSBI alumni social ventures in India, which include some of the globally well-known organizations such as Gram Vikas, Jaipur Rugs, Drishtee, Mother Earth, Husk Power Systems, Video Volunteers, Naandi Foundation, etc.

As GSBI's Indian partner, XLRI Jamshedpur, will identify and recommend Indian social entrepreneurs to GSBI for incubation, and access to seasoned Silicon Valley mentors. In addition, XLRI will also partner with SCU to conduct due-diligence on the Indian applicant to ensure appropriate potential and quality.

As the Indian partner, faculty from XLRI will provide this post-incubation mentoring support to the Indian social ventures.

According to Prof Madhukar Shukla of XLRI, who will be coordinating this partnership, "With about 30 GSBI social ventures in India, which range from the well-established ones to very young start-ups, there is an enormous potential to facilitate mentoring relationship among the GSBI alumni themselves."

XLRI and SCU also plan to collaborate to develop case-studies of the GSBI's Indian alumni ventures.

"These case-studies will be a valuable academic resource to promote learning about sustainable models of socio-economic development, and will help dissemination of practices and lessons learned in the social entrepreneurial space" said Prof. Shukla.

Having developed and tested the model for fostering social entrepreneurship through its GSBI program over years, Santa Clara University is aiming to form international partnerships across the campuses to promote and support social entrepreneurship.

At 5:30 AM on Wednesday morning, six Stanford students wake and prepare to drive an oft-traveled route to an oft-visited home away from home. For Army ROTC students at Stanford, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday demands an early morning maneuver. But on Wednesday, the cadets know that their day will not end for another 16 hours. It will be just like most of their Wednesdays at Stanford.

Six Stanford students are currently Army ROTC cadets: three seniors and three freshmen. Wednesday is typically the cadets' busiest days, and they must plan their lives as students around it.

According to Oliver Ennis '11, the busiest Wednesdays begin with physical training at 6:30 AM. For the Stanford students, that means waking up at 5:30 AM, gathering their belongings, and making the commute to Santa Clara University, a drive that can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an entire hour depending on the traffic.

After physical training, they drive back to Stanford where they can eat, shower, and go to a class or two, if they have time. Ennis recounted his morning class, “I have a Wednesday class at 10:00 AM. Sometimes I'm able to make it, sometimes I'm not, just depending on when I get out of here.”

The cadets have to be back at Santa Clara University by 2:15 PM that afternoon. There they participate in some type of lab or drill until around 5:00 PM. According to Ann Thompson '11, another senior cadet and the battalion commander, enrolling in a Wednesday afternoon class at Stanford has been impossible for her.

Wednesday labs entail various activities pertaining to instruction and physical training and usually last for three hours in the afternoon. On March 2, the cadets ran through first aid drills that would prepare them for injury situations in battle.

After four years in the program, senior cadets like Thompson have taken on many leadership roles. Often the drills on Wednesday afternoons are planned and run by senior cadets, who have gone through the same drills themselves over the past few years.

After lab, the senior cadets have a military science class that lasts until 9:00 PM, and they also have other responsibilities related to their leadership positions—all taking place at Santa Clara University. They may have some downtime in their schedule, but not enough to do much of anything. “At times I kind of feel like I'm a Santa Clara student too,” Thompson said, “I'll eat here, hang out in the cafeteria, do homework here, nd] hang out in the dorms.”

After their senior military science class and possibly a debrief with the Colonel in charge of the ROTC program at Santa Clara, the seniors can finally begin the commute back to Stanford. They will likely arrive back on campus by 10:30 PM.

On campus, the cadets can begin homework and lives they have kept on hold throughout the day. While the rest of the week does not look like the typical busy Wednesday, it still has early morning workouts and meetings that take time.

Being Students Too

Although only six Stanford students have chosen to participate in Army ROTC, Thompson noted, “You really see a diverse group of students choosing to do ROTC, and the program doesn't really mold people into a certain type.” She did mention, however, that one “definitely have to be driven….”

Much of this drive must come in the area of academics, where schoolwork demands as much attention as ROTC. Isabel Lopez '14, a freshmen cadet, said about her workload, “Your typical Stanford student does homework into the late hours of the night and we [cadets] do that as well. It just means that we get less sleep because we wake up earlier but we go to bed around the same time.” For large assignments, Ennis stated, “[We] plan well in advance…. The expectation is that if it's that big of an assignment, you should have had enough time.”

While ROTC demands great amounts of time and energy from the Stanford students who choose to participate, they all seem happy with their commitment.

Lopez noted that she does miss some of the events that occur in the freshmen dorm, but she pointed out that freshmen involved in “similarly demanding things” may also miss out on some of those events. “I'm really loving ROTC. I like the structure nd] I like the opportunity to meet a lot of great people,” Lopez stated.

Thompson, does physical training every morning, including Saturdays, because she and some other cadets are training for the Baatan Death March, a several mile memorial march in desert terrain at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

“Through ROTC, I've really gained a lot of leadership experience and great friendships with guys I'll be friends with for years to come…. I would say leadership development really is the major thing I'll take away from ROTC,” Thompson stated. In response to her life as an ROTC cadet, Thompson noted, “I wouldn't have it any other way.”

California, USA, have signed an MoU to promote and foster social entrepreneurship in India.

The two institutes have decided to collaborate where XLRI will be the Indian partner to manage and support Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI), the signature programme of Centre for Science, Technology, and Society of Santa Clara University.

The GSBI is a globally-known incubation programme, which was started by the Santa Clara University in the year 2003. Every year, GSBI screens and selects about 15-20 social ventures from across the globe, and incubates them by providing technical inputs, mentoring support and some grant to make them investor-ready.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney will host a series of Regional Roundtables for U.S. corporate clients of its Global Stock Plan Services group, with the first event scheduled on March 17 in Houston. The series will focus on performance-based equity compensation plans and feature speakers from PriceWaterhouseCoopers and other industry leaders. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney provides stock plan services to 2.5 million participants at more than 500 corporations globally, including 25 percent of the Fortune 500.1

“Performance awards can be challenging for equity compensation professionals, making efficient administration and accurate financial reporting more valuable than ever. The roundtables give our clients the opportunity to explore best practices surrounding this topic and get answers to their questions,” said Julian Clark, Managing Director and Head of Global Stock Plan Services at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney recently teamed up with the Certified Equity Professional Institute (CEPI) at Santa Clara University to be the team sponsor of the GPS/Performance Awards study, whose findings will be discussed at the roundtables. Speakers will address challenges that equity compensation professionals face in administering the plans and building employee understanding of them.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney will host a series of Regional Roundtables for U.S. corporate clients of its Global Stock Plan Services group, with the first event scheduled on March 17 in Houston. The series will focus on performance-based equity compensation plans and feature speakers from PriceWaterhouseCoopers and other industry leaders. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney provides stock plan services to 2.5 million participants at more than 500 corporations globally, including 25 percent of the Fortune 500.(1)

"Performance awards can be challenging for equity compensation professionals, making efficient administration and accurate financial reporting more valuable than ever. The roundtables give our clients the opportunity to explore best practices surrounding this topic and get answers to their questions," said Julian Clark, Managing Director and Head of Global Stock Plan Services at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney recently teamed up with the Certified Equity Professional Institute (CEPI) at Santa Clara University to be the team sponsor of the GPS/Performance Awards study, whose findings will be discussed at the roundtables. Speakers will address challenges that equity compensation professionals face in administering the plans and building employee understanding of them.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney will host a series of Regional Roundtables for U.S. corporate clients of its Global Stock Plan Services group, with the first event scheduled on March 17 in Houston. The series will focus on performance-based equity compensation plans and feature speakers from PriceWaterhouseCoopers and other industry leaders. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney provides stock plan services to 2.5 million participants at more than 500 corporations globally, including 25 percent of the Fortune 500. 1

“Performance awards can be challenging for equity compensation professionals, making efficient administration and accurate financial reporting more valuable than ever. The roundtables give our clients the opportunity to explore best practices surrounding this topic and get answers to their questions,” said Julian Clark, Managing Director and Head of Global Stock Plan Services at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney recently teamed up with the Certified Equity Professional Institute (CEPI) at Santa Clara University to be the team sponsor of the GPS/Performance Awards study, whose findings will be discussed at the roundtables. Speakers will address challenges that equity compensation professionals face in administering the plans and building employee understanding of them.

NEW YORK, Mar 14, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Morgan Stanley Smith Barney will host a series of Regional Roundtables for U.S. corporate clients of its Global Stock Plan Services group, with the first event scheduled on March 17 in Houston. The series will focus on performance-based equity compensation plans and feature speakers from PriceWaterhouseCoopers and other industry leaders. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney provides stock plan services to 2.5 million participants at more than 500 corporations globally, including 25 percent of the Fortune 500.(1)

"Performance awards can be challenging for equity compensation professionals, making efficient administration and accurate financial reporting more valuable than ever. The roundtables give our clients the opportunity to explore best practices surrounding this topic and get answers to their questions," said Julian Clark, Managing Director and Head of Global Stock Plan Services at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney recently teamed up with the Certified Equity Professional Institute (CEPI) at Santa Clara University to be the team sponsor of the GPS/Performance Awards study, whose findings will be discussed at the roundtables. Speakers will address challenges that equity compensation professionals face in administering the plans and building employee understanding of them.

This piece was produced and edited by California Watch where you can enjoy the full package. It was paid for in part by the Spot.Uscommunity. Far below, see Kong-TV video on how the wrongfully convicted in Washington state struggle to get compensation.

Jeffrey Rodriguez was in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles when he was identified as the man who robbed an employee at an auto-parts store the night before.

He spent more than five years in a Santa Clara County jail before being released in February 2007 – declared factually innocent of the crime, his arrest and conviction expunged from the record.

But when Rodriguez, now 32, applied for compensation from a state fund for the wrongly convicted – $138,100 in his case – a three-person state panel denied his request. As he soon found out, there are degrees of innocence in California.

Rodriguez is one of 44 Californians released from prison since 2000 who have been denied money after a hearing before the state's victim compensation board, which can award $100 a day for each day spent behind bars after a wrongful conviction.

Out of the 132 people who have filed claims during that timeframe, 11 former inmates have been awarded compensation, with payments ranging from $17,200 to $756,900, for a total cost to taxpayers of more than $3 million.

Fourteen former inmates are awaiting a hearing. Those who received compensation typically relied heavily on DNA evidence, which may not be as readily available to inmates who lack legal resources.

“The whole process is a mess,” said Jeff Chinn, assistant director of the California Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal clinic based out of the California Western School of Law in San Diego, which frequently handles compensation claims on behalf of the wrongfully convicted. “Our clients are asked to prove things far beyond what is reasonable.”

The Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board, a three-person state administrative body, must approve compensation claims before they are sent to the state Legislature for a final vote. Officials for the board said they analyze each case fairly and permit evidence that typically would not be considered in a criminal or civil trial, such as hearsay.

But advocacy groups that work with the wrongfully convicted said the board sets requirements that are nearly impossible to meet and implements them inconsistently. Chinn said the process is so subjective that “basically no one knows what it takes to be successful.”

California is one of 27 states, along with the District of Columbia, that pay compensation to victims of wrongful conviction. But in many states, including California, simply being exonerated by a judge isn't enough to qualify for compensation. In Missouri, innocence must be proven through DNA testing. In Maine, it takes an official pardon from the governor.

More than 200 people in California have been wrongfully convicted of crimes since 1989, according to an American Civil Liberties Union estimate. Innocence advocates note that the vast majority of the exonerated face a life of poverty once they are released because they can't find a job after living years behind bars.

Under state law, claimants must prove three points to receive compensation: that they did not commit the crime or that the crime did not take place; that they did not intentionally contribute to their own arrest by “voluntarily” or “knowingly” pleading guilty to the crime; and that they experienced financial losses as a result of their incarceration. The process can take two years from the filing of the claim to the hearing.

(David I. Gross/Northern California Innocence Project) Antoine Goff is shown outside his mother's San Francisco apartment, where he lived after his release from prison.

Where to turn for more information about wrongful convictions

More than 200 people in California have been wrongfully convicted of crimes during the last two decades, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. If you would like to learn more about the exoneration process, there are a number of resources online.

Innocence Project

The national nonprofit litigation and public organization works to exonerate wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing. Its website includes information on the most common causes for wrongful convictions, policy conversations and profiles of exonerated people.

Call: 212-364-5340

E-mail: info@innocenceproject.org

Website: www.innocenceproject.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/innocenceproject

Twitter: @innocenceblog

California Innocence Project

This nonprofit clinical program based out of the California Western School of Law in San Diego frequently handles compensation claims on behalf of wrongfully convicted people. According to its website, it reviews more than 2,000 claims of innocence by California inmates each year. The site also includes profiles of its successful cases.

Call: 619-525-1485

Website: www.cwsl.edu/main/default.asp?nav=cip.asp&body=cip/home.asp

Facebook: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=107614813214

Northern California Innocence Project

The Northern California Innocence Project at Santa Clara University aims to exonerate prisoners and push for legal reforms. Its website's recommended reading list includes "Killing Time: An 18-Year Odyssey from Death Row to Freedom" and "Actual Innocence: When Justice Goes Wrong and How to Make It Right."

Call: 408-554-1945

E-mail: ncip@scu.edu

Website: http://law.scu.edu/ncip

Facebook: www.facebook.com/santaclaralaw

Twitter: @santaclaralaw

California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board

This three-person state administrative body must approve compensation claims before they are sent to the state Legislature for a final vote. Its website includes a downloadable Erroneously Convicted Person Claim Form as well as links to statutes and regulations and bios of its board members.

Educational series for corporate clients will explore various aspects of performance-based equity compensation plans

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney will host a series of Regional Roundtables for U.S. corporate clients of its Global Stock Plan Services group, with the first event scheduled on March 17 in Houston. The series will focus on performance-based equity compensation plans and feature speakers from PriceWaterhouseCoopers and other industry leaders. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney provides stock plan services to 2.5 million participants at more than 500 corporations globally, including 25 percent of the Fortune 500.1

“Performance awards can be challenging for equity compensation professionals, making efficient administration and accurate financial reporting more valuable than ever. The roundtables give our clients the opportunity to explore best practices surrounding this topic and get answers to their questions,” said Julian Clark, Managing Director and Head of Global Stock Plan Services at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney recently teamed up with the Certified Equity Professional Institute (CEPI) at Santa Clara University to be the team sponsor of the GPS/Performance Awards study, whose findings will be discussed at the roundtables. Speakers will address challenges that equity compensation professionals face in administering the plans and building employee understanding of them.

Educational series for corporate clients will explore various aspects of performance-based equity compensation plans

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney will host a series of Regional Roundtables for U.S. corporate clients of its Global Stock Plan Services group, with the first event scheduled on March 17 in Houston. The series will focus on performance-based equity compensation plans and feature speakers from PriceWaterhouseCoopers and other industry leaders. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney provides stock plan services to 2.5 million participants at more than 500 corporations globally, including 25 percent of the Fortune 500.1

“Performance awards can be challenging for equity compensation professionals, making efficient administration and accurate financial reporting more valuable than ever. The roundtables give our clients the opportunity to explore best practices surrounding this topic and get answers to their questions,” said Julian Clark, Managing Director and Head of Global Stock Plan Services at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney recently teamed up with the Certified Equity Professional Institute (CEPI) at Santa Clara University to be the team sponsor of the GPS/Performance Awards study, whose findings will be discussed at the roundtables. Speakers will address challenges that equity compensation professionals face in administering the plans and building employee understanding of them.